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WIRE JOURNAL DECEMBER 2009

I N T E R N A T I O N A L w w w. w i r e n e t . o r g

Fa ste n e rs Fasteners Bad Cable P. 11

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WIRE JOURNAL

I N T E R N A T I O N A L

Editorial . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

CONTENTS

Volume 42 | Number 12 | December 2009

F EATURES

Calendar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Industry News . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Asian Focus . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 People . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Fiber Watch . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Fastener Update . . . . . . . . . 26

Wrapup: wire Southeast Asia . . . . . .42 Organizers report that some 5,000 people attended this show, which was held in October in Bangkok, Thailand.

Wrapup: Istanbul Cable & Wire 09 . .46

WAI News . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Chapter Corner . . . . . . . . . . 36 Technical Papers . . . . . . . 60-78 Products/Media . . . . . . . . . . . 80 Classified . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

This event, organized by industry organizations IWMA, ACIMAF, CET and WAI, presented technical information for both the ferrous and nonferrous sectors.

Industry trends: fasteners/wire

. . . .52

This feature presents a look at the fasteners market from The Freedonia Group; a look at the evolution of a fastener product; observations from two fastener companies; and an article from the American Wire Producers Association about why it is supporting trade measures against China.

Career Opportunities . . . . . . 85

T ECHNICAL

Advertisers’ Index . . . . . . . . 87

Mordica Lecture: Drawing induced structural and mechanical anisotropy Etienne A.D. Aernoudt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .60

February 2010 WJI

Preview of wire Düsseldorf

SECTION

New developments in rod surface measurement and analysis Horace Pops and Gil Baker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .72

Cover: The fastener market, always a competitive field, has become that much more challenging in the generally down conditions for much of the global wire and cable industry. Photograph by Bill Branch.

DECEMBER 2009 | 3

INSIDE THIS ISSUE CONTENTS

E FFORTS

TO STOP BAD CABLES

. . . .11

At IWCS, the CCCA presented an update on the flow of bad and potentially hazardous cables coming to the U.S., and UL’s Steve Galan spoke about plans to help resolve the problem. Pictured, l-r, are CCCA Board of Directors Secretary Pete Lockhart, Anixter; CCCA President Kevin Ressler, Tyco Electronics; and CCCA Executive Director Frank Peri, who insists that education has to be part of the solution.

4 | WIRE JOURNAL INTERNATIONAL

P LANT

TOUR IN

T URKEY . . . . . . . .46

WAI President Antonio Ayala, l, with Hikmet Akin, one of the founders of Vatan Kablo A.S., a leading cable company in Turkey. Attendees at Istanbul Cable & Wire 09, put on Nov. 2-3 by four industry organizations (ACIMAF, IWMA, CET and WAI), were able to tour the company’s 334,000-sq-ft plant in Corlu, which manufactures products that include energy cables as well as oxygen-free copper rod.

- Christian Guyot - 98185

EDITORIAL WIRE JOURNAL

EDITORIAL

I N T E R N A T I O N A L

Bad cables, bad guys and good efforts A year later, and an ongoing industry story about bad telecom cable coming to the U.S. has changed little, but now there may be reason to believe that the situation could improve. Nobody knows for sure how much bad cable continues to come in, but prior efforts to correct what has largely been a defacto honor system—that cables being sold as a Cat. 5 product, for instance, do in fact meet specs—have been modestly successful at best. The U.S.-based Communications Cable and Connectivity Association (CCCA), which issued last year’s stark assessment, notes in its latest report presented at IWCS that conditions are not much better. But UL, whose mark has been misused, also made a presentation at IWCS, and it outlined tangible actions (see p. 11) that may in fact help. How and why this problem has grown so much in recent years is not easy to grasp for someone in the industry, let alone how it would appear to those outside it. This is a story of good and bad, only much of it is shaded in gray. There are some out-and-out bad guys (the makers of bad cable), some people who may or may not be culpable (distributors), some people who may be too bottom-lined focused (cable buyers) and some people who represent the last hope but may not know what to look for (local inspectors). One might think of the proverbial “800-pound gorilla” option (a call for federal intervention), but is an already-stretched U.S. government necessarily going to want to step in? And, if it did, what might it decide was the right thing to do? CCCA members and others who manufacture quality products, certifying groups such as UL and ETL and the many legitimate distributors all have plenty of incentive to want to stop the flow of bad cables. The problem is that even if fraudulent cable manufacturers, most located in China, could be closed, they could re-open elsewhere. Or a buyer could simply turn to other like sources. An obvious target would seem to be the companies that distribute such cables in the U.S., but proving that someone knowingly traded in bad cable is not so simple. Further, even good manufacturers can make some cable that is not up to spec and even trustworthy distributors can unknowingly get bad product. It’s in the industry’s best interest as a whole to give more than token support to efforts to control this problem. All it would take is one horrific fire that can be traced back to bad cables. On many levels, that would be an ugly story. Does anyone want to risk being part of it? You’re welcome to send your suggestions and thoughts on this topic to WJI at editorial@wirenet.org.

Mark Marselli Editor-in-chief

6 | WIRE JOURNAL INTERNATIONAL

WIRE JOURNAL INTERNATIONAL (ISSN-0277-4275) published monthly by The Wire Journal, Inc., is a wholly owned subsidiary of The Wire Association International, Inc., which is located at 1570 Boston Post Road, P.O. Box 578, Guilford, CT 06437-0578, USA, and can be contacted at tel. 203-453-2777; fax 203-453-8384; Internet wirenet.org; e-mail mmarselli@wirenet.org. Address all correspondence concerning advertising production, editorial and circulation to the above address. WJI is printed in USA. Subscription rates: $110 per year, USA; $120 per year, Canada and Mexico; other countries, $140 per year (includes air mail). Back copies: $10 WAI members, $15 non-members. Periodicals postage paid at Guilford, CT 06437, USA, and at additional offices. Wire Journal International grants photocopy permission to libraries and others registered with Copyright Clearance Center (CCC), 21 Congress St., Salem, MA 01970, USA, for a fee of $0.50 per article. Payments should be sent directly to the CCC. Requests for bulk orders or reprints should be sent to the Wire Journal International, P.O. Box 578, Guilford, CT 06437-0578, USA. © 2009 by Wire Journal, Inc. All rights reserved. The Publisher of WJI assumes no responsibility for the validity of manufacturers’ claims made herein. Back issues of WJI are on microfilm and available from University Microfilm, 300 North Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, MI 48106, USA. Phone: 313761-4700. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Wire Journal International, P.O. Box 578, Guilford, CT 06437-0578, USA.

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CALENDAR

CALENDAR March 9-10: Cables 2010 Cologne, Germany. To be at held at the Maritem Hotel Cologne, Contact: Applied Market Information, Ltd., U.K., tel. 44-117-924-9442, info@amiplastics.com. March 16-19, 2010: CABEX 2010 Moscow, Russia. To be held at the Sokolniki Exhibition Centre, CABEX focuses on cables, wires, fastening hardware and installation technologies. Contact: Exh. Dir. Natalia Medvedeva, Tel. 7-495 925 34 82, mns@mvk.ru. Apr. 12-16, 2010: wire Düsseldorf Düsseldorf, Germany. To be held at the Messe fairgrounds. Contact: Messe Düsseldorf North America, tel. 312-781-5180, info@mdna.com. May 9-11, 2010: AWPA Long Products Supply Chain Symposium and AWPA Annual Meeting Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA. The American Wire Producers Association (AWPA) is organizing this new symposium, to be held May 10-11 at the Pfister Hotel. It will also hold its Annual Meeting on May 9-10. Contact: Heather Outhuse, AWPA, tel. 703-299-4434. May 12-13, 2010: Wire Expo 2010 Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA. To be held at the Midwest Airlines Center, this event includes the WAI’s 80th Annual Convention, trade show and technical program. It will be co-located with The National Electrical Wire Processing Technology Expo. Contact: WAI, tel. 203-453-2777, www.wirenet.org. May 12-13, 2010: The National Electrical Wire Processing Technology Expo Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA. To be held at the Midwest Airlines Center, this event will be co-located with Wire Expo 2010. Contact: Jay Partington, Expo Productions, Inc., tel. 262-367-5500, www.expoproductionsinc.com.

Sept. 21-24, 2010: wire China 2010 Shanghai, China. To be held at the Shanghai New International Expo Centre (SNIEC). Contact: Messe Düsseldorf North America, tel. 312-781-5180, fax 312-781-5188, info@mdna.com, www.mdna.com. Oct. 27-Nov. 3, 2010: K 2010 Düsseldorf, Germany. This event for the plastics and rubber industry will be held at the Düsseldorf Fairgrounds, Halls 1-17. Contact: Messe Düsseldorf North America, tel. 312-781-5180, fax 312-781-5188, info@mdna.com, www.mdna.com. Nov. 7-10, 2010: 59th IWCS Conference™ Providence, Rhode Island, USA. Contact: Pat Hudak, IWCS, www.iwcs.org, phudak@iwcs.org, tel. 732-389-0990. Nov. 18-20, 2010: Wire & Cable India 2010 Mumbai, India. This event, organized by the Confederation of Indian Industry, will be held at the Bombay Exhibition Centre in Goregaon. Contact: Confederation of Indian Industry, tel. 91-22-24931790, www.cii.in/. May 2011: Interwire 2011 Atlanta, Georgia, USA. WAI returns to the Georgia World Congress Center for the trade show and the Association’s 81st Annual Convention. Exact dates to follow. June 19-23, 2011: JI Cable Versailles, France. This multi-organizer international conference on insulated power cables, which has multiple organizers and was last held in 2007, will present a comprehensive forum about power cables as well as exhibits. Contact: J1Cable 11, www.jicable.org. ■

W IRE ASSOCIATION INTERNATIONAL EVENTS For more information, contact the WAI, USA. Tel. 001-203-453-2777; fax 001-203-453-8384; Internet www.wirenet.org. Jan. 27, 2010: New England Chapter 16th Annual Meeting Uncasville, Connecticut, USA. The New England Chapter will return to the Mohegan Sun Resort Conference Center in Uncasville, Connecticut, USA, to hold its 16th annual meeting. More details to follow. Contact: Chip Marsh, tel. 203-453-1748, cmarsh@wirenet.org.

May 12-13, 2010: Wire Expo 2010 Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA. To be held at the Midwest Airlines Center, this event includes the WAI’s 80th Annual Convention, trade show and technical program. It will be co-located with The National Electrical Wire Processing Technology Expo. May 2011: Interwire 2011 Atlanta, Georgia, USA. See main listing.

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INDUSTRY NEWS

INDUSTRY NEWS AWPA to partner with WAI for 2 events it will put on next year in Milwaukee The American Wire Producers Association (AWPA) announced that it has entered a partnership with Wire Association International (WAI) for two events to be held

next May in Milwaukee, Wisconsin: AWPA’s 2010 Annual Meeting and a new event – a Long Products Supply Chain Symposium – that will take place in conjunction with Wire Expo 2010, WAI’s trade event. AWPA will begin the week with a shortened Annual Meeting on May 9-10, 2010. The new Long Products Supply Chain Symposium will be held May 10-11, 2010. Both events will be held at the Pfister Hotel. Just down the street, Wire Expo 2010 exhibits will be open at the Midwest Airlines Convention Center in a two-day format on May 1213, co-located for the first time with the National Electrical Wire Processing Technology Expo. “Partnerships such as this one between the AWPA and WAI are critical as we find cost-effective ways to bring our members the benefits that are even more essential at this time,” said AWPA Executive Director Kimberly Korbel. “The new Symposium will be open to anyone representing a company in the long products supply chain; rod suppliers, wire manufacturers, fabricators, distributors and the suppliers to the industry.” AWPA anticipates 250 attendees for its new Long Products Supply Chain Symposium, primarily presidents, CEOs, COOs and sales and marketing executives. “It’s critical that all of us in the supply chain come together to strengthen the North American manufacturer’s position in the global steel market,” said AWPA President Walt Robertson of Johnstown Wire Technologies. “China’s steel exports affect suppliers and customers alike, and working together to address policy issues will be the only way we can be successful once the recession ends. Bringing together all the players is essential,” he said. WAI Executive Director Steve Fetteroll described the partnership as a win-win deal. “We have worked with allied groups to schedule Wire Expo so that it is conducive to participants from both the ferrous and nonferrous sectors of the industry. We’re also sensitive to limited travel budgets so

we appreciate how this segmented schedule can dovetail to boost participation from all sectors of the wire and cable community.” The AWPA represents 80-90% of the production of carbon, alloy and stainless steel wire and wire products in the United States and almost all of the North American production of

carbon and stainless wire rod. AWPA also represents wire producers in Canada and Mexico and wire rod producers located in the U.S. and around the world. The member companies are entrepreneurial and maintain their competitive market positions against a constant heavy penetration of foreign-made products. For more information, contact Kimberly Korbel, kkorbel@awpa.org, 703-299-4434.

Venerable U.K. wire manufacturer is acquired out of receivership John Pring & Son, a Cheshire bailing and steel wire producer, has been acquired out of receivership by a U.K. competitor, ending a legacy that traces back 175 years. The company, which was once owned by Leggett & Platt, which sold it into private ownership in April 2006, was bought by a former competitor, KTS Wire, a Yorkshire steel wire manufacturer. At the Pring Wire website, the company noted that its product line included high-carbon wire, galvanized wire, polished copper-coated wire, commercial quality mild steel wire, annealed wire and more. In July, Pring’s 30 plus employees had been told they would not be paid, but they volunteered to stay on in hopes that the company could be saved, the Chronicle reported. At the end of August, the employees, still not paid and not able to collect benefits as they were officially employed, were told their jobs were gone, it said. At the John Pring website, it notes that, “It all began back in 1834 in the village of Sandbach, Cheshire, England. Entrepreneur John Pring began Elworth Wire Mills - with Mr. Pring travelling to Manchester to sell his wares which were then exported all around the World. This tradition continues to this day with Pring wire being used in more than thirty countries Worldwide.” The last sentence reads, “history with a future - is heritage. something we build upon.”

Does your company have news that belongs here? E-mail it to the WJI at editorial@wirenet.org.

10 | WIRE JOURNAL INTERNATIONAL

There was both good news and bad news to report regarding the flow of offshore-manufactured telecom cable to North America. The bad news is that the Communications Cable and Connectivity Association, Inc. (CCCA) reported at IWCS that, a year after its initial field-test report found that eight of nine randomly selected samples from Asia failed to meet the minimum requirements for fire safety, its follow-up field test showed that the U.S. cable marketplace continues to receive sub-standard cables. The good news, however, also reported at IWCS, is that UL announced a series of steps it plans to take in response to that situation. Steve Galan, General Manager of UL’s Wire and Cable Services Strategic Business Unit, outlined three specific measures: a market surveillance program that will test cables obtained anonymously through cable distributors; the “fingerprinting” of different cable constructions from cable manufacturers so that a test matrix can be developed; and sophisticated holographic labeling that will be required for all telecom cable categories, which includes the boxes that the cables come in. Exact dates for when these efforts will take effect have not been set yet, but it will be sometime in 2010, he said. He warned that, “no one of these measures is a silver bullet,” but collectively, along with efforts by UL and CCCA to educate the industry and its customers, it will become more difficult for suppliers of such cables to get sub-standard product through. Specifically, UL will initiate a market surveillance program, to be a permanent part of its Follow-Up Services (FUS), said Galan, who noted that his organization has had considerable success with review programs for decorative lighting and flexible cord. This program will allow for a wide range of sample selection, including ones obtained anonymously from distributors, he said. Further, instead of a long wait for a full-fledged flame test to be conducted, small samples can now be taken to determine if the ingredients are “the good stuff,” and if it’s not, to arrange for a complete test, he said. The program will be global in scope, targeting not just Asia, with the goal being over time “to sample everybody,” he said. UL will also build a database of different cable constructions for companies that have tested and approved cables for plenum, riser and vertical tray applications to develop a test matrix by which it can be determine whether they are making the cables properly, Galan said. If a company has been found to have changed its construction or materials, UL would take appropriate action that could include delisting of the particular cable, and if it is seen as an endemic problem, a complete delisting. Finally, Galan said that UL’s plans go beyond the cables themselves, requiring holographic labeling for the boxes that all telecom cables come in. He noted that this step is important as four of eight samples of cables had came in boxes that did not bear the appropriate mark. The technolo-

gy that goes into the hologram, such as those shown in the below photo, would be very difficult to duplicate, he said. Galan said that more details will be presented in a UL bulletin that likely will go out in December. He added that there will also be a review of the items in that bulletin at a UL meeting likely to be held in either January or February. Galan can be contacted at steven.a.galan@us.ul.com. The CCCA’s 2009 report found that six of the eight samples failed to meet the minimum NFPA code requirements for low flame spread and/or smoke generation for installation in commercial buildings, schools and multi-tenant resi-

Samples of holograms that UL plans to require be placed on boxes containing telecom cables.

dences. It noted the following details: All of the failing samples exhibited severe failures, indicating an unacceptable public safety hazard still exists. In 2008, its initial report found that eight out of nine randomly selected samples failed to meet the minimum requirements for fire safety. Five of the eight samples tested this year were chosen from companies whose products failed the 2008 fire safety tests. Four out of the five repeat companies’ samples failed the fire safety tests for a second year in a row. CCCA Executive Director Frank Peri, whose organization represents communication cable makers and distribuors who have to compete with lower-priced cables that may be under-code, said that he sees the story going forward from this point as a positive one, an example of what cooperative efforts can do. “The industry, as a whole, is going to be a lot better off,” he said. CCCA’s 2009 report also noted that three of the eight samples marked as meeting the minimum electrical performance required by industry standards for Cat. 5e and 6 cables failed to do so. Peri, who had been criticized by some people last year for not releasing the names of the distributors whose samples had failed, said that he chose not do that because “disclosing names offers little value because these are easily changed and noncompliant cable will still be sold under a new banner.”

DECEMBER 2009 | 11

INDUSTRY NEWS

CCCA: 1 year later, flow of sub-par cables to U.S. continues; UL reports measures to counter the problem

INDUSTRY NEWS

The release said that the contract includes a four stand prefinishing mill (PFM) arrangement, with two-stand 300 horizontal/vertical PFM and a two-stand 230 Vee PFM; a 10stand, 230/160 Vee No Twist Mill (NTM), guides for the PFM and NTM, snap shears, side loopers, water boxes, troughs, pinch rolls, laying heads, Stelmor conveyor, twoarm mandrel reform stations and compactors. It also includes site supervision and services during the installation. Delivery is expected in mid-2010 for the first rod outlet and the third quarter 2010 for the second, the release said.

Prysmian launches first extra-high power cable plant in the U.S. Chart from CCCA showing results for smoke tests for cables it had tested in 2009. Rather, Peri said, he wants to focus on the measures that will bring about the desired results, and he is satisfied that the steps that UL has announced represent a good start. Peri insisted that UL should not be seen as the lone party in this matter, and that the industry as a whole has to educate distributors, the people who spec cable, those people who install it and those who inspect it to make sure they understand how potentially bad cable can be detected and prevented. “I see these as being very positive steps,” said CCCA Chairman Kevin Ressler, director of business development for Tyco Electronics. “These are very progressive measures and we’re encouraged to see it.” Also supporting the news was CCCA Secretary Pete Lockhart, vice president emerging technologies, Anixter. “Obviously Anixter supports any effort to stop the flow of inferior cables into the U.S. that represent a fire or safety hazard to consumers,” he said, adding that such cables “also present risks to companies’ networks. We have tested offshore data cables in our lab over the years which claim category performance, but which fail to meet these specified standards.” Peri welcomes comments at fperi@cccassoc.org.

Chinese company to have 2 new rod lines at its Jiangsu Province plant China’s Zenith Steel (Changzhou Zhongtian Iron & Steel) has signed multiple contracts for two rod outlets for the company’s new rod mills in Changzhou. A press release from Siemens, whch is supplying the rod outlet equipment, said that the contracts are valued at more than US$15 million. The project calls for each rod outlet to have the capability to produce plain rod (5.5 mm to 20 mm) for use for cold heading steel, spring steel, welding wire, bearing steel, tire cord and PC strand steel grades. Once the new equipment is installed, the mills for the privately owned, midsized steelmaker will produce up to 150 tons per hour on each line, it said. 12 | WIRE JOURNAL INTERNATIONAL

Prysmian Cables & Systems announced that its new U.S. extra-high-voltage power cable plant in Abbeville, South Carolina, represents the first such production site in North America, which until now has had to import this technology. The approximately US$48 million investment will give Prysmian an important competitive advantage in the North American high-voltage cables and systems market, which is expected to see “major investment to modernize power transmission networks and exploit renewable energy,” a press release at its website said. The plant, the release said, consists of a Vertical Continuous Vulcanization (VCV) process housed in a 373foot-tall tower. Prysmian has medium- and low-voltage power cable manufacturing facilities in Abbeville, and the new plant further reinforces the product range available to Prysmian’s customers, which include North America’s major utility companies. In 2008 North America represented 11.8% of the Prysmian Group’s total sales, with over 800 people employed in four production facilities: two in the U.S. (Abbeville and Lexington, S.C.) and two in Canada (St. Jean, Québec, and Prescott, Ontario). The release cited other Prysmian projects in North America, such as Trans Bay Cable, a high-voltage submarine power link that will allow the city of San Francisco to access more environmentally friendly energy, and the Neptune project, completed in 2007, for a submarine transmission cable that delivers energy to New York City from New Jersey. “The investment in the U.S. represents a further step forward in Prysmians’ investment plans in the high-tech, high added-value sector of high voltage submarine and underground cables,” the release said. It noted that in recent years, Prysmian has made significant investments to increase its production capacity in markets with the greatest growth potential. These include China, where the construction of 24,000 km of new power transmission lines has been announced, and Europe, where there is strong impetus from the need to develop network interconnectors and the development of renewable energy from wind farms that require connecting to the traditional transmission networks, it said. Apart from the new Abbeville plant, Prysmian has 14 other facilities for high-voltage cables and systems, which are located in France, Finland, Brazil, Argentina, Italy, Spain, Turkey, U.K., Indonesia, Malaysia and China.

Leoni announced that it has won a contract from Nissan to supply harnesses for the company’s all-terrain vehicle X-Trail for Russia starting at the end of 2010. A press release said that the contract, the first one for Leoni from a Japanese car manufacturer, represents annual “double-digit million Euro volume” until at least 2014.

Leoni will produce all the electric cable harnesses for the Russian market of the X-Trail all-terrain vehicle, which will be built at the local Nissan plant in St. Petersburg, it said, noting that previously, the car had only been assembled in Russia, using harnesses from an Asian supplier. In November 2010, Leoni will begin production, estimated at some 10,000 cable harnesses each year, at its Gorodets site in Russia. “This order from Nissan is an important milestone for Leoni,“ said Uwe Lamann, President of Leoni’s Wiring Systems Division. “We are very pleased to be able to add Nissan to our customers now, the company being an important manufacturer in Japan. After all, the X-Trail was the No. 1 selling SUV in 2007 and 2008 on a worldwide basis.”

U.S. Commerce Department sets duties on wire decking from China The U.S. Department of Commerce (DoC) has set preliminary duties on wire decking imported from China that it found has been subsidized. The welded wire decking, generally used for industrial and other commercial storage rack systems, is produced from carbon or alloy steel wire that has been welded into a mesh pattern, DoC reported. From 2006 to 2008, imports of wire

Nissan’s X-Trail all-terrain vehicle.

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1296 Mark Street Bensenville, IL 60106 USA Phone: 630-787-9350 Fax: 630-787-9360 www.micro-weld.com

Reconditioning, Parts, And Service DECEMBER 2009 | 13

INDUSTRY NEWS

Leoni driven by Nissan wire harness order for Russian automotive market

INDUSTRY NEWS

Editor’s Note: the following information should have been included in the November feature on lubricants.

Blachford Corporation/USA Blachford Corp., a leading lubricant manufacturer, makes technically advanced powder and liquid lubricants for North American, Asia and European markets. A key strength is that our technical representatives and North American-based R&D department work directly with customers to develop wiredrawing lubricants in support of process optimization. The use of a lubricant specifically designed to optimize a process, results in consistent wire quality in terms of both metallurgical properties and surface appearance. Combined with reduced die wear, this leads to substantial cost savings for our customers. The lubricant is only one part of a complex manufacturing system, but using a low-cost, general purpose lubricant can result in an inefficient process and higher total costs whereas a well-designed and possibly higher-priced lubricant allows for some tolerance of process variations while maintaining product quality. It also supports the development of specialized new wire products. This initiative has resulted in some leading wire producers growing market share and profitability despite the recent tough economic conditions. Our R&D Blachford Corp.’s Gary Woods. has developed some exceptional products (Chemdraw WL 1084; Chemdraw 623 and Chemdraw 1029 SL) for nonferrous wiredrawing. Due to our business approach, many outstanding products recently developed by Blachford R&D have been designed for, and sold only to, a specific customer. As warranted, on a case-by-case basis, Joint Development Agreements are signed to support the necessary exchange of information that is required for the development work to be successful. The agreements vary based on the customer requirements and the technical complexities that need to be addressed. In all cases our customer information is maintained in strict confidence. Blachford is also known for some exceptional “work horse” products, such as Chemdraw 644 N for high and lowcarbon steel applications and Chemdraw S31L for spring wire products. For the welding wire industry, our calcium lubricants provide unmatched performance due to our unique manufacturing process. Blachford also has a number of sodium soap formulas that are available in borax-free versions. Although at this time the borax-free products are required only in the EU, we are ready to meet this regulation. Gary Woods, Blachford Corporation.

14 | WIRE JOURNAL INTERNATIONAL

decking from China increased 49% by value and amounted to an estimated US$317 million in 2008, it said. DoC’s preliminary determination was that Chinese producers and exporters of wire decking have received net countervailable subsidies ranging from 2.02 to 437.73%. The DoC noted that there were “a significant number of companies that did not complete (its) Quantity and Value Questionnaire. As a result, these companies will receive an adverse rate of 437.73% for non-responsiveness. Mandatory respondents, Dalian Huameilong Metal Products Co. Ltd. and Dalian Eastfound Metal Products received net subsidy rates of 2.02% and 3.13% respectively, it said. Based on the preliminary determination, DoC will instruct U.S. Customs and Border Protection to collect a cash deposit or bond based on these preliminary rates. The petitioners were AWP Industries, Inc.; ITC Manufacturing Inc.; J&L Wire Cloth Inc.; Nashville Wire Products Mfg. Co. Inc.; and Wireway Husky Corporation. The decision, the release said, follows an earlier one where DoC set preliminary duties on imports of concrete steel wire strand from China, with duties that range from 7.53% to 12.06% for steel wire strand. It had noted that imports of the wire strand have risen to $178 million in 2008 from $112 million in 2006.

Extreme conditions in Barents Sea makes for hot cable deal for Nexans Severe weather conditions were not a problem for Nexans, which landed a US$10 million contract to supply a range of ice-resistant cables for use in an oil production platform in the Barents Sea. The order, from Sevmash, Russia’s largest shipbuilding company, calls for Nexans to supply approximately 850 km of control, instrumentation and power cables for the

The Prirazlomnaya marine platform in the Barents Sea. Prirazlomnaya marine platform, a press release said. The platform, constructed specially for the development of the Prirazlomnoye oil field, represents the first oil production

underground and overhead distribution products, notes that it has provided primary cable to the utility industry for over 50 years and is a major supplier of 35 kV TRXLP cable to the wind power industry. In a press release, it said that the new capacity “provides a significant improvement to Hendrix aluminum drawing and overall stranding capabilities.” That, it noted, “will provide greater flexibility and responsiveness on the larger kcml size conductors.” This is espe-

Elsewedy Cables opens leading-edge fiber optic cable plant in Egypt Elsewedy Cables announced that it has opened a new fiber optic cable plant in Egypt that will produce the company’s new brand, “Comcore.” The plant, a press release said, employs the most sophisticated cabling technology in the world, and has capacity of 20,000 km of fiber optic cable a year, including cables that can have as many as 432 fibers. “Through its new brand ‘Comcore,’ Elsewedy Cables provides the fastest speed available for the transmission of data,” it said.

Hendrix Wire adds more capacity to Milford plant U.S.-based Hendrix Wire & Cable reports that it has added new drawing and stranding capacity to its facility in Milford, New Hampshire as well as expanded the plant. The company, which manufactures

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Bomco Inc. 125 Gloucester Avenue Gloucester, MA 01930-2294 978-283-9000 Fax 978-283-2882 e-mail custserv@bomco.com

DECEMBER 2009 | 15

INDUSTRY NEWS

project on the Russian Arctic shelf, it said. The setting, icefree for less than four months of the year, is known for high ice loads and temperatures that average -4ºC, and falling as low as -50ºC during winter. Those conditions, it said, “require unique marine cable technologies to provide the optimum combination of low-temperature resistance and fire-resistant, low-smoke halogen-free properties.” Nexans noted that extreme conditions can generate a crack in the outer layer of the cable jacket. “Indeed, below a certain level of temperature (called glass transition), the plastic used to produce the outer layer of the cable becomes brittle and (under certain conditions), the jacket (can) break off.” Whereas a typical goal would be for the outer cable layer to resist temperatures down to -25°C, for this project the Nexans Research Center developed a material with very good cold behavior down to -60°C by using macromolecular engineering, it reported. The cables will be produced at the Nexans Kukdong Electric Wire Co. plant in Korea, the release said. Production has started, and deliveries will continue through the end of 2011, it said.

INDUSTRY NEWS

cially important for utility project work which use more of the larger conductors than regular maintenance work, it said. The investment will also enhance Hendrix’s wind business, where large conductors are used in the collection grid, it said, adding that the capacity increase required an expansion of the building.

Belden in partnership with Omni Cable U.S.-based Belden reports that it has entered a new partnership with Omni Cable, a master redistributor of specialty wire and cable for electrical distribution. “Belden is able to supply our industrial customers with a complete solution of cabling, connectors and industrial Ethernet switches,” said Andy Adams, president of Belden’s Industrial Solutions Division. “Electrical distribution is key to delivering this solution to our customers. With over 30 years of experience fulfilling the product and service needs of their electrical distributors nationwide, Omni Cable is well positioned as a redistribution partner.” “This new partnership is sure to provide greater value to our customers since we will be able to supply our electrical distributors with high quality Belden cable, as well as the ability to support Belden’s complete industrial solutions,” said Omni Cable CEO Jeff Siegfried.

U.S. ITC review finding: PC strand duties will continue for 6 countries A cyclical “sunset” review by the U.S. International Trade Commission found that existing antidumping orders on PC strand imports from Brazil, Korea, India, Japan, Mexico and Thailand, and a countervailing duty order on imports of PC strand from India, will remain in effect for another five years. The panel found that revoking the orders “would likely lead to continued or recurrent material injury to domestic producers of PC strand.” It reported that the duties are as follows: Brazil, 118.75%; India, 83.65 to 102.07%; Korea, 35.64 to 54.19%; Mexico, 62.78 to 77.20%; Thailand, 12.91%; and Japan, 0 to 15.8%. It also will continue a countervailing duty of 62.92% for India. The five-year “sunset” review was initiated in December 2008 to review trade orders issued against five of the countries in 2004 and a trade finding issued against Japan in 1978, the ITC noted. At an earlier stage of the sunset review proceeding, the Commerce Department found that dumping by all countries is likely to recur if the orders were revoked, it said. “Per information submitted by the domestic industry, the volume of imports from the six countries was projected to increase significantly if the orders were removed based on large and increased capacity to produce PC strand in the foreign countries, high levels of unused capacity, and the export-orientation of the foreign producers,” the report said. Underselling by subject imports was also projected, as were adverse effects on the “highly vulnerable” domestic PC strand industry, it said.

16 | WIRE JOURNAL INTERNATIONAL

“We are pleased with the Commission’s finding because retention of these orders will help to prevent further problems to an industry that is already struggling to compete with unfairly traded imports from China,” said Kathleen Cannon, counsel to the domestic PC strand industry. “Had these orders been revoked, the problems the domestic industry is suffering due to unfairly-traded imports from China would have been exacerbated, causing further declines in the U.S. industry’s trade and financial performance,” Cannon said in the release. The petitioners are American Spring Wire Corp. of Bedford Heights, Ohio, Insteel Wire Products Co. of Mt. Airy, North Carolina, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Insteel Industries, Inc., and Sumiden Wire Products Corp. of Dickson, Tennessee. Petitioners are represented in these actions by Kathleen W. Cannon and Paul C. Rosenthal of the law firm Kelley Drye & Warren, LLP.

Study: demand for flame retardants in U.S. to reach 475,000 tons in 2013 Citing expectations for a strong rebound by insulated wire and cable, a study from The Freedonia Group, Inc., based in projects that U.S. demand for flame retardants will reverse its decline and expand by 2.7% a year to 475,000 tons in 2013, setting the market value at approximately $900 million. The flame retardants, the study from the U.S.-based industry research firm observed, “will reflect renewed vigor in key markets such as insulated wire and cable, and construction,” a press release said. It also cited other drivers, such as more stringent fire codes and flammability requirements. Price increases, however, will moderate significantly due to more normal energy and raw material costs, it said. The industry, the release said, will continue to be impacted by trends away from halogenated flame retardants due to health and environmental concerns. Alumina trihydrate will continue to be the most widely used flame retardant type, accounting for 43% of total demand in 2013 due to its low cost, excellent performance and widespread applications, it said, adding that the best growth likely will be for phosphorus-based flame retardants, which are projected to increase 3.7% annually to 84,000 tons. Growth will be driven by non-halogenated phosphorus grades, which have a more benign environmental footprint than heavily regulated brominated compounds, the slowestgrowing flame retardant type, the report said. Demand for chlorinated compounds, it projected, will decrease through the year 2013 due to their adverse health and environmental impacts. The release said that construction products accounted for one-third of total flame retardant demand and will grow at an average pace to 156,500 tons in 2013, driven by insulation and cushioning opportunities for flame retardants used in foamed polyurethane and polystyrene. Insulated wire and cable will exhibit the fastest growth in light of rapidly rebounding wire and cable production. Another growth area

Outlook for flame retardants for the U.S. Chart courtesy of The Freedonia Group. is automotive, while electrical and electronic products will grow at a slower annual rate (1.7%) to 79,000 tons in 2013, dimmed by the ongoing exodus of electronics production to offshore countries with lower labor costs and governmental incentives, particularly in Asia. Contact: Corinne Gangloff, Freedonia Group, tel. 440-684-9600, crg@freedoniagroup.com.

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Tensor observes 25th Tensor Technologies this year celebrates its 25th anniversary of serving the fiber optic and cable industry. The Canadian-based company notes that it recently completed a number of major projects, including a premise cable line with a unique, user friendly programming system and innovative components; a planetary cabling and extrusion line for minibundle cables; and high-speed SZ stranding lines. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Tensor is very grateful for the support over the past 25 years from the cable industry and is looking forward to the next 25 years,â&#x20AC;? a press release said.

Continuous cast mill updated by Properzi Lincoln Electric Company announced the sucessful completion of the modernization of the continuous cast aluminum rod mill at its Canadian subsidiary, Indalco Alloys Inc., which it notes is the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s only fully integrated aluminum welding wire producer. The multi-million dollar modern-

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DECEMBER 2009 | 17

INDUSTRY NEWS

ization was done by Italyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Continuus Properzi, a press release said. It noted that the upgrade â&#x20AC;&#x153;is a tangible example of the Lincoln Electric commitment to provide superior quality rod.â&#x20AC;? The project included employing the latest technology as well as upgrading the electrical controls and user interface via continuous line data from the rod mill, it said. Located in Mississauga, Ontario, adjacent to Toronto, Indalco Alloys is an ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 certified company. â&#x2013;

panoramic view of

MILWAUKEE

Wis.

Ferrous Nonferrous Wire Making Wire Processing SEE BOTH SIDES AND MEET IN THE MIDDLE AT WIRE EXPO 2010 Look left. Look right. At Wire Expo 2010 you’ll be at the center of three events that bring wire makers and wire processors together in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA.

CONVENTION & EXHIBITION:

MAY 12-13

2010 MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN, USA MIDWEST AIRLINES CENTER

Find show details online at:

www.wirenet.org

If you’re steel minded, feel free to flow from the American Wire Producers Association’s annual meeting and new Long Products Supply Chain Symposium May 9-11 into all of the Wire Expo activities and exhibits on May 12-13. One registration is all you need. Or if you’re energized by the electrical | nonferrous segment your registration will take you into neighboring territory as Wire Expo co-locates with the National Electrical Wire Processing Technology Expo to explore the downstream products and technologies that are of mutual interest. If you want to network with like-minded professionals visit us at Wisconsin’s Midwest Airlines Center where we’ll be celebrating the 20th anniversary of Wire Expo with new friends and great neighbors. Meet us in the middle at Wire Expo 2010.

Scheduled in conjunction with Wire Expo 2010.

Co-located with Wire Expo 2010.

Wire Expo 2010

EXHIBITING COMPANIES as of November 2009

Esteves Group

Lesmo Machinery America Inc.

SAMP USA Inc.

Eurowire Magazine/Wire & Cable Asia Magazine

Lloyd & Bouvier Inc.

SB2C/NIMSCO LLC

Amacoil Inc.

MacDermid Inc.

Sealeze

Amaral Associates

George Evans Corp.

Madem Reels USA Inc.

SIKORA International Corp.

Anbao Wire & Mesh Co. Ltd.

Fabritex Inc.

Magnetic Technologies Ltd.

SIMPACKS

Axis Computer

Filtertech Inc. FMS USA Inc.

The MGS Group (MGS-HallNorthampton)

Sivaco

Aztech Lubricants LLC B & H Tool Co. Inc.

Foerster Instruments Inc.

Micro Products Co.

Balloffett Die Corp.

Fort Wayne Wire Die Inc.

Morgan-Koch Corp.

Bartell Machinery Systems LLC

Frontier Composites & Castings Inc.

Niehoff Endex North America Inc.

Taubensee Steel and Wire Co.

Bekaert Corp.

Gauder Group Inc.

Northwire Inc.

Traxit North America LLC

Beta LaserMike

Gem Gravure Co. Inc.

NUMAMERICA/NUMALLIANCE

Tubular Products Co.

Bongard Machines USA LLC

GENCA Corp.

Ohio Rod Products

Tulsa Power Inc.

Butt Welders USA Inc.

W. Gillies Technologies LLC

Oklahoma Steel & Wire

US Synthetic Wire Die

Caballe SA

Guill Tool & Engineering Co. Inc.

Paramount Die Co. Inc.

Vandor Corp.

Parkway-Kew Corp.

Vollmer America Inc.

Phifer Inc.

Wafios Machinery Corp./ Witels Albert USA Ltd.

ACIMAF/Italian Trade Commission

Canterbury Engineering Co. Inc.

Heany Industries Inc.

Carris Reels Inc.

Heatbath Corp.

Central Wire Industries Ltd.

Henkel Corp.

Clinton Instrument Co.

Houghton International Inc.

Commission Brokers Inc.

Huestis Industrial

Condat Corp.

IDEAL Welding Systems LP

Conneaut Industries Inc.

Joe-Tools Inc.

Cortinovis Machinery America Inc./Eurolls Group

Krueger Steel & Wire

Die Quip Corp. Engineered Control Systems Inc. Engineered Machinery Group Inc.

L-S Industries Inc. Lamnea Bruk USA LaserLinc Inc.

Pittsfield Plastics Eng. Inc. PolyOne Corp. PrintSafe Properzi International Inc. Queins & Co. GmbH Radyne Corp. Rainbow Rubber & Plastics Inc. Refractron Technologies Corp. Rockford Manufacturing Group

Leggett & Platt Wire Group

Rosendahl Nextrom Technologies

Leoni Wire Inc.

Roteq Machinery Inc.

Sonoco Products Inc. T & T Marketing Inc. Talladega Machinery & Supply

Weber & Scher Mfg. Co. Inc. Windak Inc. Wire & Plastic Machinery Corp. Wire Association International Wire Journal International Wire Lab Co. Wire Machine Systems Inc. Woodburn Diamond Die Inc. Worth Steel and Machinery Inc. Zumbach Electronics Corp.

ASIAN FOCUS

ASIAN FOCUS Long-delayed steel projects in India stalled by local opposition, bureaucracy The headlines about plans for major steel projects in India by South Korean steel giant Posco and ArcelorMittal, the world’s largest steel company, go back as far as 2005, but to date, neither project has gone forward. An on-line article in The Wall Street Journal India highlighted the challenges that have beset major projects, in particular Posco and ArcelorMittal, which had planned mammoth projects in the mineral-rich states of Orissa and Jharkhand. Projects worth US$82 billion have been delayed because of land acquisition and environmental clearances, all entwined by a bureaucracy that one steel company official said can require approvals from “as many as 60 to 70 layers.” The frustrating lack of progress prompted ArcelorMittal Chairman and CEO Lakshmi Mittal to say earlier this month that efforts continue to move the projects forward, but that, if need be, “we will start to search for alternate sites in India.” In a story in the The Economic Times, Vijay Adding steel production capacity has Bhatnagar, chief proved to be a challenge in the India executive of states of Orissa and Jharkhand. ArcelorMittal’s Indian operations, told reporters that the goal remains to locate the projects in India. The company, he said, wants to go forward with its $20 billion plans to build two large steel plants in the states of Jharkhand and Orissa, as this will give it a presence in one of the few steel markets in the world still seeing demand growth. Where the operations will ultimately be located, however, could change, he said. “We may look at alternate sites. It could be within the states.” The article noted that the Indian state of Karnataka had offered an alternative site. Similar challenges have beset South Korea’s Posco, which in June 2005 signed a deal with the Orissa government to set up a 12-million-ton-a-year steel plant. The company has

tried to make progress but to no avail, the article said. “We are willing to offer both financial compensation and employment in our project,” said Posco’s general manager in India, S. K. Mohapatra, adding that the company’s projection is that plant construction could be completed by 2014. The article cited one steel company official as saying that the lengthy delays can hurt India’s ability to provide for its own needs. “India will face severe problems in expanding its steel-production capacity if the land-acquisition problem isn’t dealt with soon," said N. K. Patnaik, executive director (Orissa), Uttam Galva Steels Ltd., an Indian steelmaker, was quoted as saying in the article. India has long been viewed as a land of much potential, with growth coming from infrastructure needs as well as a growing auto industry, where the new low-cost Tata car has shown great promise. That, however, will require a lot of steel, and the states of Orissa ad Jharkhand had been expected to be key providers. Land acquisition has been a major problem in the two states, which have sizeable impoverished populations that include tribal groups that have held up land acquisition for several mining and industrial projects. Other projects have been affected. In 2008, three land surveyors of Bhushan Power & Steel Ltd. were beaten up by villagers for doing a land survey in Jharkhand for the company’s proposed steel and power projects, the article said. Local governments also get involved to vet terms, creating multiple layers of bureaucracy. “Since there were complaints of earlier deals undervaluing land, all matters related to land acquisition have to be approved by the district administration,” said Tuhin K Mukherjee, executive director of JSW Steel Ltd., one of the India's largest steel companies. “Matters...often move back and forth in as many as 60 to 70 layers of bureaucracy.” The article noted that some projects are moving forward. Bhushan Steel is ready to begin production of its five-million-ton-a-year plant in Orissa over the next few months, after acquiring land in 2005. But the major projects that were expected to have brought major capacity on-line, and with it many jobs, have not. The topic has been written about in many publications, including The Economic Times, in which one reader, G. Chadha, New Delhi, posted the following comments: “One really feels dejected and sad that due to bureaucracy and ‘red-tapism,’ not only investment, but employment opportunities are lost due to delay in these two mega projects. We always talk of Jharkhand and Orissa as backward states, but tell me, if this is the case how (can) these states come up? What are center ministers for Steel and Commerce doing? They have to intervene and solve such problems practically; they just cannot be simple policymakers. A pragmatic approach is the need of the hour.”

Have news that belongs here? If so, e-mail it to editorial@wirenet.org.

20 | WIRE JOURNAL INTERNATIONAL

KEC to merge with RPG Cables, build new plant India power transmission contractor KEC International, which approved merging with RPG Cables, plans to invest US$85 million over three years to set up a new cable plant. The merger will result in â&#x20AC;&#x153;backward integration,â&#x20AC;? as KEC will be able to use the entire output of RPG Cables, Reuters reported. The deal is scheduled to close March 1, 2010. The Business Standard reports that RPG Cables, one of Indiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s largest power cable manufacturers, sought a new strategic investor to clean up debt and to build the new facility, which will be located in Gujarat, and have capacity of 120 km of high-tension cable. The refocused KEC, which manufactures cable products for project management businesses such as distribution, telecom and railways, has three plants in India, the article said. In related news, AMEinfo.com reported that Saudi Electricity has awarded a contract to a consortium that includes India's KEC International Ltd and Al-Sharif Group to install a power transmission line north of Riyadh. The contract covers installation of a 380-kilovolt transmission line and would be completed in 30 months. Reuters reported a second contract, from Chad, for KEC to extend electricity

South Koreaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s LS Cable plans subsea cable growth The Korean Herald reports that LS Cable wants to increase sales by 2015 to where it will pass three European companies to become the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s largest supplier of subsea cables. LS Cable CEO Son Jong-ho said in the story that the company is targeting up to US$845 million in revenue for subsea cables by 2015. To achieve the goal, the company has started production of submarine cables at its new US$149 million plant, the first of its kind in Korea, and the fourth in the world. The CEO said that his company is seeking a 35% share in the global subsea cable market, which he noted has been dominated for decades by Nexans (France), Prysmian (Italy) and ABB (Switzerland). â&#x20AC;&#x153;Although less experienced than our competitors, we have cutting-edge technology and facilities,â&#x20AC;? Lee In-ho, director of LS Cableâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Donghae plant, told reporters. The global subsea cable market is expected to grow 24 to 25% annually, Son said in the story. In it, he added that he expected the increasing renewable energy market to boost demand for power cables linking offshore wind farms with mainland. â&#x2013;

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DECEMBER 2009 | 21

ASIAN FOCUS

distribution network for the city of N'djamena, with execution to be done by KECâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Middle East unit.

ASIAN NEWS BRIEFS

PEOPLE

PEOPLE Eddie Edwards has been named president and COO of CommScope, Inc., effective January 1. He was promoted from executive vice president and general manager, Wireless Network Solutions, a post he has held since the acquisition of Andrew Corp. in 2007. Since 2005, he has been concurrently serving CommScope as executive vice presEddie Edwards ident of Business Development. He has served in various executive roles since joining CommScope in 2001. He previously has served as acting president of CSMI, a CommScope subsidiary, and as president and CEO of OFS Fitel, LLC and OFS BrightWave, LLC, a joint venture between CommScope and The Furukawa Electric Co. Prior to

CommScope, he served as president of Radio Frequency Systems (RFS); president of Alcatel NA Cable Systems; CFO of Alcatel’s Cable Operations in the Americas and Americas area manager for Alcatel Cable. He will succeed Brian Garrett, who will retire later in 2010 after a 30-year career with the company. Until that time, Garrett will initiate and serve as advisor on several special projects within CommScope. In related changes, three CommScope managers have been named to expanded global leadership roles in a new organization structure that will take effective January 1. Randy Crenshaw, currently executive vice president and general manager, Enterprise Randy Crenshaw

OBITUARIES Edwin A. “Ed” Rubadue, the founder of Colorado-based Rubadue Wire Company, died Oct. 21, 2009, at 87. One of nine children, Rubadue served in the U.S. Army Air Force from September 1942 to December 1945, serving as a B-17 bomber pilot in the European theater with the 96th Bomber Group Eighth Air Force. He was shot down and spent seven months at a prison camp. In 1948, he earned a B.S. degree in mechanical engineering from Ohio State University. In 1954, he joined Anaconda Wire & Cable, then held top posts at Kaiser Aluminum, Olin Conductors, Harvey Aluminum, Hatfield, Alflex and Dacon Systems. Edwin A. Rubdaue In 1977, he started Rubadue Wire. Survivors include his wife of 63 years, Agnes “Perkie” Foeller, and 10 children, including five in the family business: Sue Welsh, CEO; Dan Rubadue, COO; Ed Rubadue, CFO; Mike Rubadue, maintenance director and Jim Rubadue, maintenance. Welsh recalls that her dad was so focused on the engineering/technical end of producing copper cable that he had little respect for sales, his mindset being that a good product would sell itself by reputation. He also had a great work ethic. “My dad worked 36 hours straight at times to get our business started,” Welsh said. “He didn’t have large capital resources, yet he did things with an extruder no one else could. He did the best he could with what he had and expected everyone else to do the same. And his best was very good. He also never left a doubt for what he was thinking. He was very honest, very direct and had a great sense of humor.

22 | WIRE JOURNAL INTERNATIONAL

“He taught us early on that respect goes along with hard work. No matter the position, if you were working hard to support you and yours, that was something to take pride in and be respected for. The janitor and the president of a company got the same level of respect from dad. Unless of course the janitor worked harder, then he got more.” Rubadue was honored by the industry with the WCMA Distinguished Career Award and the Dupont Plunkett Award. Other survivors include 34 grandchildren; 30 great-grandchildren; and one great-great-grandchild. John R. Swentzel of Byram Township, New Jersey, USA, a longtime industry veteran, died Oct. 6, 2009, at age 60. A New York native, Swentzel graduated from Kansas Wesleyan University where he played football for four years. He started his 30-year career in the wire industry in 1975 when he joined International Wire Products, where he moved up through the ranks to regional sales manager. In 1988, the company was acquired by Hudson Wire, where he continued in sales. In 1990, Hudson was acquired by Phelps Dodge, which offered him offered the position of vice president of sales of its Bayway operation. He joined Torpedo Specialty Wire Co. in the late 1990s as vice president of sales, and remained with the company until his retirement for health reasons in 2005. He is survived by his wife, Linda; one daughter, Samantha Talmadge, John R. Swentzel of Newton, and a brother, James Swentzel, of Johnsonburg.

Beta LaserMike has named Frank DeBarro as its European Service Manager, with responsibilities for all base and field repair operations in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. He has more than 12 years of experience in managing service groups. He will replace Eric Gottlieb, who will relocate to the Dayton facility as an engineering manager. Based in Dayton, Ohio, USA, Beta LaserMike supplies testing and measuring equipment.

Katina Kravik

Frank DeBarro

Katina Kravik has been promoted to CEO of Northwire, Inc. She represents the third generation in her family to own and lead the privately held 37-year old cable company. Based in Osceola, Wisconsin, USA. Northwire, Inc., designs, manufactures and markets technical and retractile cables for diverse applications.

DECEMBER 2009 | 23

PEOPLE

Solutions, will become executive vice president and chief supply officer, with global responsibility for manufacturing, planning, sourcing and logistics. Ted Hally, currently executive vice president and general manager, Antenna, Cable and Cabinet Group, will become executive vice president and chief commercial officer, with global responTed Hally sibility for all sales, marketing, research and development, product development and product management. Bob Suffern, currently senior vice president and general manager, RF Power Amplifiers, will become senior vice president and chief technology officer, responsible for the companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s overall technology development and direction. Based in Hickory, North Carolina, USA, CommScope provides infrastructure solutions for communication netBob Suffern works worldwide.

PEOPLE

Teknor Apex Company has expanded its Canadian representation by appointing two specialists to be in charge of the company’s vinyl, nylon and specialty compound product lines. Domenic Marando, who joined the Vinyl Division of Teknor Apex in 2003 as a sales engineer, has been promoted to sales representative for the Chem Polymer, Teknor Specialty Compounding and Vinyl divisions. He will be in charge of sales in Ontario, central and western Canada, upstate New York, and northwestern Pennsylvania. He pre- Domenic Marando viously held sales, marketing, and technical positions during 14 years with acrylic resin and sheet producer CYRO Canada, Inc. He holds a diploma in chemical engineering, from Ryerson Polytechnic University in Toronto. Gerard Cousineau has been appointed sales representative for the same three divisions in Quebec and the Atlantic Provinces. He has 24 years of plastics experience, including sales positions with resin distributors PolyOne/Resin Direct and GE Polymerland and technical sales/development positions with Hoechst Celanese, GE Plastics, and Gerard Cousineau Shell Canada. He holds degrees in chemical engineering from École Polytechnique de Montréal and in chemistry from Montreal University. Based in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, USA, Teknor Apex is an international custom compounder of advanced polymer materials. Surface Combustion, Inc., announced two key promotions: Douglas G. Elliott is now vice president and general manager. He has extensive experience in areas such as proposals, estimating, and contract engineering func-

24 | WIRE JOURNAL INTERNATIONAL

tions as well as operations management. Joseph T. McCormick is now the North American Sales Manager. He has extensive experience in heat treating equipment manufacturing, captive heat treating Douglas Elliott and commercial heat treating industries. Based in Maumee, Ohio, USA, Surface Combustion, Inc., supplies heatJoseph McCormick treating furnace technology. The Clinton Instrument Company has named Kristen Langley as its salesperson for the northeastern states sales territory. She joined Clinton after graduating from the New England Conservatory in Boston in 2007. She has been in product inspection, repair and customer service areas during that time gaining hands on experience with the entire line of Clinton units. Based in Clintion, Connecticut, USA, Clinton Instrument Company provides testing equipment. ■ Kristen Langley

Kao a winner of 2009 Nobel Prize in physics for his early work in fiber optics Charles K. Kao, a pioneer in improving fiber optic cable technology, was one of three winners to share the 2009 Nobel Prize in physics. Per Wikipedia, in 1965, Kao found that the fundamental limitation for glass light attenuation is below 20 dB/km, but at the time optical fiber commonly exhibited light loss as high as 1,000 dB/km and even more. The Shanghai native led a team that precisely measured the attenuation of light with different wavelengths in glasses and other materials. He identified the impurity of glass material as the main cause for the decay of light transmission inside glass fiber, rather than fundamental physical effects, such as scattering, as commonly believed at the time. He said the high purity of fused silica (SiO2) would made it an ideal candidate for optical communication. When Kao began working on fiber optics, the most advanced cables could only carry a light signal about 65 feet. By determining how the purity of the glass and the manufacturing methods influenced the transparency of a fiber optic cable, he laid down the principles that would lead to a halfmile-long cable within four years. The other two award winners, Willard S. Boyle and George E. Smith, were honored for their work for digital cameras.

DPG military contracts reflect potential for fiber to replace copper for aviation U.S.-based Defense Photonics Group, Inc. (DPG) has delivered fiber optic systems on two contracts with the U.S. Department of Defense that are notable for their long-term potential. The first contract, with the U.S. Army, is a Technical Risk Reduction Program evaluating DPG’s advanced Optical Harness™ technology for potential applications across their rotary wing aircraft fleet, a press release said. The technology “is a direct replacement for the wiring harnesses used on today’s aircraft, and does not require replacing the aircraft’s existing systems,” DPG CEO John Husaim said. “By using fiber optic technology, DPG can reduce copper wire harness weight by more than 50 percent.” The technology, he said, uses multiple signals and formats on a single optical fiber using a single laser diode. One of the advantages of the fiber optic systems, Husaim said in the release, is that it provides immunity to electromagnetic and radio interference, making aircraft less susceptible to potentially catastrophic lightning strikes or dangerous electromagnetic pulses (EMP). The second contract, which has been filled, was to deliver initial prototypes to the U.S. Air Force, the release said. The prototypes consist of fiber optic RF links, which are components of DPG’s Optical Transport System that are to be used by the U.S. Air Force for applications in a critical Electronic

Warfare simulator, it said. DPG Chief Technology Officer Jason Stark said the fiber optic technology offers compelling advantages. “The large amounts of copper wires bundled in aircraft can make them susceptible to severe disruptions like EMP and lightning. The resulting electric and magnetic fields may couple into electronic systems to produce damaging current and voltage surges that render entire critical systems useless in the event of an emergency. DPG’s fiber optic systems remove this source of vulnerability.” At its website, the company notes the following: Tens of kilometers of copper cables are scattered all over the aircraft for communication and interconnecting black boxes on airplanes, between power systems and sensors, it states at the website. Further, the number of black boxes on fighter airplanes and helicopters, for example, in the sixties was 3-10 (depending on the aircraft). Today the number of black boxes on fighter airplanes is about 25 and on helicopters about 30. Currently, the volume these cables occupy is 2530% of the available volume dedicated for avionics. The average weight of the wiring harnesses on an airplane is about 60-80 kg (150-200 kg in helicopters) and constitutes 25-30% of the total weight of the avionics systems in the airplanes. The average price of the wiring harnesses on a single aircraft is between $100,000 and $300,000.

Berk-Tek cables top OM4 standards U.S.-based Berk-Tek, a Nexans Company, announced that its fiber optic cable family includes fiber grades that exceeds the recently ratified TIA-492AAAD for OM4 specifications. Berk-Tek fiber optic cables are available with two types of fibers that meet or exceed the OM4 standards and have been available for more than five years. GIGAlite™-10FB glass

meets the standards, whereas the GIGAlite-10XB, the industry’s highest performing laser optimized 50 μm fiber, surpasses the standards with a bandwidth of 4900 MHz*km at 850 nm and a reach surpassing 600 meters. OM4 fiber is a 50 μm laser-optimized fiber with extended bandwidth properties over the previous OM3, a press release said. “Berk-Tek has offered the XB glass for years and some of its features were incorporated into the new OM4 document, even though the glass still exceeds the performance that has been recently standardized,” said Mike Connaughton, RCDD, Fiber Optic Product Business Manager for Berk-Tek. “The benefits associated with this additional performance include headroom and distance.” ■

DECEMBER 2009 | 25

FIBERWATCH

FIBER WATCH

FASTENER UPDATE

FASTENER UPDATE U.K. fastener event draws well Fastener Fair Stuttgart 2009, described by its organizers as the largest dedicated fastener and fixing exhibition ever to be held in Europe, lived up to its billing and more, they say, noting that the two day October event in Stuttgart, Germany, featured a record-breaking 625 exhibitors, a 43% increase from the 2007 show. “The hefty increases in both exhibitors and attendees, amidst still challenging economic conditions, shows the resilience of the fastener and fixing sector,” organizer Jerry

the number of German, Italian and Asian companies exhibiting was up over 50% in each case. Other countries were well represented too, it said, citing The Netherlands up by 25%, Spain by 33% and Poland by 50%, while the number of Turkish exhibitors doubled and Austrian, Hungarian and Slovakian companies came for the first time. The next Fastener Fair Stuttgart takes place in 2011, the dates yet to be set. The next event for the Fastener Fair organizers is the second Fastener Fair Budapest, scheduled to be held in Hungary on Sept. 6-7, 2010. For more details, contact Jerry Ramsdale, Fastener Fair, tel. 44-1727-739-150, jerry@fastfair.net, www.fastenerfair.eu.

New U.S. fastener event set for 2010

Activity at the two-day Fastener Fair Stuttgart event held in October. Organizers report that the event featured a record 625 exhbitors and nearly 6,000 attendees. Ramsdale said in a press release. “It also shows the unique opportunity Fastener Fair Stuttgart presented to re-establish key trade links across the global fastener market.” Ramsdale noted that the event filled two 10,000-sq-meter halls, with a total crowd estimated at nearly 6,000 attendees and exhibitors. The show “had a real buzz throughout its two days. That’s not surprising when you consider there were almost 6000 fastener professionals meeting in Stuttgart – 3783 visitors and 2210 stand personnel. And what’s even more encouraging than our record-breaking figures is the feedback from exhibitors, who reported consistently that people were there to do serious business, not just to look.” The visitors largely came from the 27 countries of the European Union, which represented 83% of attendees, the release said. Of those, the largest single representation came from host-country Germany, at 38.3%, it said. Some twothirds of visitors, it noted, described themselves as fastener distributors or wholesalers, a similar proportion to previous shows. Ramsdale said the attendee profile was very good, with more than three quarters of visitors saying that they have purchasing authority and 43% describing themselves as directors or senior management. The 625 exhibiting companies represented 33 countries, with 57% coming from Europe, the release said, noting that

26 | WIRE JOURNAL INTERNATIONAL

Industry trade shows in the U.S. are not in a flourishing mode, but that has not stopped Heidi Volltrauer, vice president of sales & marketing at Volt Industrial Plastics, from starting the All American Fastener Show (AAFS) on May 67, 2010, less than three weeks before the dates for the 2010 staging of National industrial Fastener Show/East, which was cancelled in 2009. “I believe that the fastener industry can use a cost-effective alternative,” Volltrauer told WJI. She acknowledges that she has not organized any trade shows before, but she observed that having been an exhibitor for 17 years (including at NIFSCO), she believes it is feasible. AAFS is to be held at the Hilton Branson Convention Center Hotel in Branson, Missouri, a location that Volltrauer described as ideal because of its central location, lower costs and area attractions. Booths will costs $695 a table, $795 for premium spots, with a $100 discount for those who sign up by Feb. 1. “The response to date has been great,” Volltrauer said. “I have had a overwhelming number of people calling me and e-mailing about details for the show. I think some people are waiting to see who else will sign up, but for the most part everyone I have spoken with will buy a booth. We have a few companies signed up so far, but like I said, I am expecting to fill the room.” Volltrauer can be contacted at tel. 877-865-8237, info@allamericanfastenershow.com

U.S. ITC votes down trade case over certain steel fasteners from China The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) voted down claims that the U.S. fastener industry has been harmed by imports of certain standard steel fasteners from China that

FASTENER UPDATE

were alleged to be subsidized and sold in the U.S. at lessthan-fair value. All six Commissioners voted in the negative, and as a result, “the investigations will end,” the ITC announcement said. Previously, the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) had considered the complaint filed by Nucor Fastener Division and calculated initial dumping margins, based on Nucor’s petition, at 66.87% to 205.97% for China, and 51.39% to 114.14% for Taiwan. With the ITC ruling, those have now become moot. One industry observer said that while he was surprised at the vote, and that it was unanimous, the fact that Nucor had pressed the case on its own might have hurt its case. He added that he would not be surprised to see Nucor continue such efforts. As of press time, Nucor had not responded to a WJI request for comment and future plans.

wire

join the best

2011 FASTENER TECH™ dates set The third staging of FASTENER TECH™ has been set for June 13-15, 2011, at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont (Chicago), Illinois, USA. The event, described as “The All-Fastener-Industry Event in the Heart-of-the-Fastener Industry,” will feature an exhibition, education seminars, an all-industry reception, and other networking opportunities, report the organizers: Fastener Technology International magazine and the Mid-West Fastener Association. The event focuses on all types of mechanical fasteners including nuts, bolts, screws, rivets, rings, clips, washers and nails. Contact: Nancy Rich, MWFA, at tel. 847-438-8338, mwfa@ameritech.net, Tom Hutchinson, FTI, tel. 330-8642122, tlh@fastenertech.com, and Mike McNulty, FTI, tel. 330-864-2122, mcnulty@fastenertech.com.

PFA has been active in creating new standards for fastener power tools The Power Fastenings Association (PFA) reports that it is taking the lead in the development of new standards for fastener driving tools, both in the U.K. and worldwide. The PFA, which represents U.K. suppliers of pneumatically powered nailing and stapling equipment, collated fasteners and fastening systems used widely in the woodworking and construction industries, notes that it has begun work on redrafting EN 792-13, the European standard for fastener driving tools, with a view to it becoming an international standard. PFA member Erik Mul, ITW Industry, will chair the BSI committee, joined by another PFA member Andrew Bowden, Makita U.K., as convenor of the ISO Working Group that will oversee the project, among others. “This close involvement will ensure the PFA and its members are fully conversant with the new standard and will be at the forefront of standards development.” ■

12 – 16 April 2010 Düsseldorf, Germany International Wire and Cable Trade Fair www.wire.de

Secure your advantage The innovation cycles are constantly getting shorter. New technologies and solutions offer new possibilities. In order to maintain or to extend your lead, first hand information is necessary. At wire 2010, the entire international wire and cable industry will meet to experience innovations live. Take part and discover the trends and markets for the future. Profit from the expertise of leading suppliers and secure your advantage. Together with the concurrently held Tube trade fair, wire 2010 will open up new and profitable perspectives.

Order your wire 2010 entrance passes online in advance of the show at reduced rates! Wire, Cable, Fibre Optic, Wire Products and Machinery

For show information: Messe Düsseldorf North America 150 North Michigan Avenue Suite 2920 Chicago, IL 60601 Tel. (312) 781-5180 Fax (312) 781-5188 E-mail: info@mdna.com http://www.mdna.com

Spring Making

Fastener Technology

For hotel and travel arrangements: TTI Travel, Inc. Tel. (866) 674-3476 Fax (212) 674-3477

Official Airline

DECEMBER 2009 | 27

WAI NEWS

WAI

NEWS

Reconvene: the focus on future trade shows, tech programs and more

is a positive, he said, adding that there are ways to preplan aspects, such as utilities, to reduce exhibitor costs. The concept of offering different themes led to a lively discussion. Exhibition Planning Committee Chairman Tony De Rosa, Cortinovis Machinery America, Inc., supported themes that would collectively attract more types of attendees, but also recommended seeking speakers who

As the wire and cable industry has had to respond to the harsh economic conditions, so has the Wire Association International, which at Reconvene, its second business meeting of the year, addressed key issues such as its trade shows, technical programs and potential directions to take. The meetings saw some key decisions being made, including cutting the traditional four-day format for Interwire by one day. Some 70 plus volunteers and WAI staff met at Cleveland, Ohio, with the Exhibition Planning, Conference Programming, Education, Member Relations and executive committees and the Board of Directors. The Exhibition Planning committee meeting featured a brainstorming session focused on Interwire 2011 that was directed by trade show consultant Kelvin Marsden-Kish, who discussed the importance of giving attendees tangible reasons to come. “You’ve got to Industry consultant Kelvin Marsden-Kish addresses the Exhibition Conference keep the event fresh,” he declared. Making it more affordable for exhibitors Planning Committee during Reconvene. who bring and operate equipment is a must, but beyond that, there must be networking opportunities and presenting of new ideas, could provide the big picture of trends on topics that have be it in the technical programs or special sessions and a direct impact, such as infrastructure and transportation, panel discussions or the creation of show themes, he said. as well as those that have an indirect impact, such as “There has to be something (attendees) can bring back trade duties and tariffs. Some of the potential themes that that will make (them) a hero at work,” he declared. were suggested by committee members included energy, It is one thing to offer a good program, but the realities transportation, construction and medical. of the economy today are that it is vital to make the expeWAI First Vice President Dane Armendariz, Henkel rience cost-effective, Marsden-Kish said. In this case, cutCorporation, observed that it is important to attract the ting Interwire by one day from its current four-day format “future managers, because the industry is shrinking.” That concern was echoed by others at various meetings, where it was noted that the industry has lost many people, through retirement and downsizings/closings, whose experience is hard to replace. The Conference Programming Committee refined its plans for Wire Expo 2010. The group, which is charged with organizing the paper presentations at the conference, shored up its theme session plans. It has settled on five sessions of related paper presentations it plans to produce. Topics include green processes and environmental regulations (including ferrous and nonferrous topics, as well as a section on marking as it pertains to environmentallyfriendly inks and compounds); quality and failure analysis; surface treatment with topics on pre- and post-treatWAI Executive Comittee liason Dominique Perroud, l, ment including pre-heating, induction heating, corona, talked at the Education Committee about the need for and plasma treatment; wire and cable forming; and workmore manufacturer involvement. place safety and OSHA issues.

28 | WIRE JOURNAL INTERNATIONAL

At the Conference Programming Committee meeting, Ron Reed (hand raised) said there is an increasing need for educational programs as experienced employees retire.

A key topic for the Membership Committee was discussing ways the WAI can make stronger connections with industry manufacturers.

DECEMBER 2009 | 29

WAI NEWS

Anyone interested in contributing to one of these sessions as either a presenter or organizer can contact WAI Director of Education Marc Murray at mmurray@wirenet.org. The Education Committee reviewed progress on different projects, seeking ways to continue to build on recent successes. The new webinar program had five separate presentations, and drew frequent visits to the wirenet web site to view archived recordings. The panel made plans for several upcoming webinars, including topics such as prestressed concrete wire and strands, During the Board of Directors meeting, Tony DeRosa (standing) talks about dies, and extrusion. The committee possible changes for Interwire 2011. Sitting, l-r, are WAI Second Vice President joined the Exhibition Planning Dominique Perroud, First Vice President Dane Armendariz, President Antonio Committee for its Interwire discusAyala and WAI Executive Director Steve Fetteroll. sion, and began planning how to adapt the Fundamentals of Wire with companies in the industry. A task force is in place Manufacturing course for possible changes to the to research and evaluate options to enhance membership Interwire format. The group also discussed revision of opportunities for industry businesses, working to ensure a some WAI publications, including the outlook for the strong value component to future offerings. Electrical Wire Handbook and the Pocket Guide for The Board of Directors got updates on various proFerrous Wiredrawing. grams, including WAI’s new operating software, changes The Member Relations Committee discussed efforts to for its India operations, as well as from Armendariz, who increase awareness of WAI and opportunities for compachairs a task force created by the board in April to review nies to take greater advantage of membership in the assochallenges for the Wire Expo and Interwire events, and to ciation. The committee was given a report on the visits provide recommendations. He noted that a committee, cothat Executive Director Steve Fetteroll has been making chaired by Past WAI Presidents Tom Moran (ferrous) and to learn more about the needs of manufacturers. Fetteroll Ron Reed (nonferrous), will focus on determining what reported that the visits have been “energizing” and said manufacturers would want WAI to provide at its events. he found that many of the companies are willing to help More details will be presented in the next issue, including identify opportunities and programs to increase involvethe 2010 officers and board members. ment, including attendance at the shows. Cited for their contributions were two board members Building on the results of these visits, the committee is whose terms are ending: Freeport-McMoRan Copper & working to identify ways to make stronger connections

WAI NEWS

Gil Sevillano wins Mordica award

WAI President Antonio Ayala gave plaques to Masoud Garshasb (pictured) and WAI Past President Ron Reed for their contributions as members of the Board of Directors. Gold, Inc.’s Masoud Garshasb, who had served as co-chairman of the Programming Committee; and WAI Past President Ron Reed, Horizon Wire & Cable.

Javier Gil Sevillano, a prolific technical paper author, researcher and a full professor at the Technological Campus of the University of Navarra (TECNUN) in San Sebastian, Spain, where he has headed the school’s Department of Materials Engineering since 1994, is the winner of WAI’s Mordica Memorial Award for 2010. Gil Sevillano received his PhD in engineering from the Materials and Applied Metallurgy Department of the Khatolieke Universiteit Leuven (Belgium) in 1974. His research Javier Gil Sevillano has focused on the mechanical stress-strain response, structural evolution, texture development and fracture of materials undergoing large plastic strains. He has focused on torsion behavior of high strength pearlitic steel wires and to the origin of their delamina(continue on p. 35)

Volunteer Sp✹tlight This occasional section will provide readers a better idea of what WAI’s committees/board of directors do.

Volunteer spotlight: WAI’s Finance Committee As in most companies, the responsibility for directing and overseeing an organization’s finances belongs to the Board of Directors and this is the case with WAI. However, for many years the Association has operated with an additional level of review and oversight performed by the Finance Committee. While not well known, this committee provides a critical function in terms of managing the Association’s resources. As with other WAI committees, the Finance Committee is appointed by the Board of Directors and it answers to the Board of Directors. While they have no final authority, their recommendations and input are always presented to the Board for consideration. The Finance Committee reviews any new budget, capital expenditure or financial policy before it is presented to the Board of Directors. “The Finance Committee is well established and those involved take their responsibilities seriously,” said WAI Executive Director Steve Fetteroll. “The staff relies on this group that understands the intricacies of the Association’s operation in the context of the ever-evolving wire and cable industry.” Every major initiative with a financial implication is reviewed by the Finance Committee. This includes, most recently, the purchase of a new association management 30 | WIRE JOURNAL INTERNATIONAL

software system, the re-write of the Ferrous Handbook, the opening of WAI’s office in India, the acquisition of property adjacent to the WAI offices and the annual budget. The budget is drafted by staff in the 3rd quarter for the upcoming year, which begins January 1. Whenever possible, new expenditures and cost cutting are incorpoRon Schenk rated with the annual budget process and therefore can be reviewed in relation to the Association’s bottom line. The committee meets at headquarters to review the budget and make refinements before it gets presented to the Board of Directors. Throughout the year, the Finance Committee will monitor the organization’s performance compared to budget, discuss operational refinements to improve the financial picture, and review the annual audit results. Finance Committee members Ron Schenk, RichardsApex (Chairman) Dane Armendariz, Henkel Corporation Brian Bouvier, Lloyd & Bouvier Scott Higgins, Consultant Paul Pawlikowski, Delphi Packard Electric Sytems William Reichert, Champlain Cable Corporation Tom Siedlarz, Plastic Equipment LLC Dave LaValley, WAI staff liaison

Join WAI so that one day your day will be unified

work smart | simplify Long days. Voice mails. e-mails. Demands. Meetings, deadlines, and production schedules. You’re stretched thin with a ping-pong schedule and overlapping commitments. We can relate. And we think you will identify with the thousands of world-wise wire and cable industry professionals who value the Wire Association International’s (WAI’s) membership program for its career-sustaining resources. WAI’s membership offers a daily means to help you unite with colleagues and streamline even your most ambitious agenda. Find contacts, vendors, and customers through WAI’s dynamic website. Join an online chat or catch a free educational webinar. Take print or online delivery of the industry’s leading publication — Wire Journal International. Get a year’s worth of networking at Interwire and Wire Expo trade shows and receive discounts at the same time. Technical workshops, mentorship, committee work; all are part of the business-building groups in WAI’s global community. And all help give WAI members their competitive edge. Whether you’re online, on the road, in the plant, or at the office — WAI has a practical solution to help simplify your day. So join today. Tomorrow is looking better already.

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Business Information (required) A. Which ONE of the following best describes your company’s type of business? WIRE & CABLE MANUFACTURING 10 ❏ Aluminum & Aluminum Alloys (Rod/Bar, Bare Wire, Both ) 20 ❏ Copper & Copper Alloys (Rod/Bar, Bare Wire, Both) 30 ❏ Steel & Steel Alloys (Rod/Bar, Bare Wire, Both) 40 ❏ Other Metal (Rod/Bar, Bare Wire, Both) 50 ❏ Electrical Wire & Cable (Insulated Wire) 53 ❏ Communications Wire & Cable (Insulated Wire) 55 ❏ Fiber Optics

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December 09 International Technical

Conference Proceedings

Someone, somewhere in your company… knows how much your company is spending every month on diamond and PCD dies. So, if that person asks you if there is anything you can do about it, of course you know what to tell him or her.

“We’re going to try some Sanxin dies – we think they’ll work just as well or better than the dies we’re using now and we’re sure they’ll cost us a whole lot less”. And, of course, it’s a perfect time to make changes, when things are just a little quiet in the factory. As we all know, it’s a proven success strategy. If we don’t try new products and ideas when things are slow, when are we going to try them?

Need some help to get a trial started? - No problem at all v

Did we mention – Sanxin offers the Wire Industry’s Best Trial Program. There is no risk to you – it’s all completely Obligation Free. Please go to the Sanxin Website www.sanxinamerica.com, then click on DOWNLOADS, then download the Trial Offer pdf. It tells you exactly how to get a trial of Sanxin dies started in your plant. It’s as easy as falling off a log.

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WIRE JOURNAL

INTERNATIONAL

WJI GIVES YOU A DOZEN GOOD REASONS TO ADVERTISE IN 2010. 1. WJI LEADS THE INDUSTRY

7. BUILD YOUR BRAND AND IMAGE

JANUARY 2010 | DATA COMMUNICATIONS Will fiber dominate or can broadband’s “triple play” satisfy market demand? Can wireless grab more market share? A focus on these topics and more. Also: IWCS Wrapup; 2009 WJI Article Index.

JULY 2010 | EQUIPMENT: PART 1 Couldn’t make it to wire Düsseldorf? This issue will showcase some of the newest technology that was displayed there. Also: Wire Expo Wrapup.

8. INVIGORATE YOUR SALES FORCE

2. ESTABLISH A PRESENCE IN THE MARKETPLACE

AUGUST 2010 | WIRE CHINA PREVIEW As China continues to be the world’s leading driver for manufacturing, this trade show remains a significant event. This preview will tell readers what they can expect to see. Also: ITC Preview; Regional Outlook.

FEBRUARY 2010 | WIRE DÜSSELDORF PREVIEW This biennial event is more than just the world’s largest wire and cable show, it is an industry barometer in terms of technology and industry confidence. Read what exhibitors plan to display and what kind of response they hope (and expect) to get from attendees.

9. CALL READERS TO ACTION SEPTEMBER 2010 | EQUIPMENT: PART 2 WJI will present a second look at the latest solutions offered by equipment suppliers at wire Düsseldorf.

3. INTRODUCE A PRODUCT OR SERVICE MARCH 2010 | PREVIEW Recreated and responsive for an industry seeking directions, The WAI’s Traveling Road Show will have a new venue, a new co-location partner, and a new (shorter!) schedule.

10. CREATE INDUSTRY BUZZ

4. REACH NEW PROSPECTS APRIL 2010 | PACKAGING SOLUTIONS Reels, spools, carriers, plastic wrap and more: if it’s used to package or transport wire and cable, this feature will present it. Also: Wire Expo Update.

going green

5. RETAIN EXISTING CUSTOMERS MAY 2010 | SPECIALTY MANUFACTURING/ NEW APPLICATIONS Does the future (and profits) belong to producers of highvalue wire and cable products? What new wire applications are driving technology, and what sectors are likely to offer manufacturers the greatest potential? This feature will look at those topics and more.

OCTOBER 2010 | THE ‘GREEN’ ROLE IN WIRE & CABLE The environment has long been a topic of much general interest, but some skeptics question whether it largely remains a PR factor for industry. This feature will look at how some manufacturers have applied environmental technology to better their ‘green’ profile and their bottom lines, including a look at how and where it has been applied in the production process from start to finish. Also: IWCS Preview.

11. REDUCE SALES COSTS NOVEMBER 2010 | USED EQUIPMENT & HOW TO MAKE IT WORK This article will cover the pros and cons of buying used machinery; focus on what else may be needed to get solid results; and include a “what to look out for” list. Also: wire China Wrapup.

6. MAINTAIN CONSISTENT VISIBILITY

12. ADVERTISING WORKS

JUNE 2010 | ANCILLARY EQUIPMENT/ REPLACEMENT PARTS Back by popular demand, this feature will focus on a wide range of equipment—from air wipes to cable strippers, as well as replacement parts—that is essential to keep the industry working. Also: wire Düsseldorf Wrapup.

DECEMBER 2010 | INDUSTRY TRENDS This feature will revisit the state of the industry after the economic challenges that began in late 2009 and what may be to come.

ADD THESE BONUSES WIRE EXPO 2010 OFFICIAL SHOW PROGRAM WJI 2011 REFERENCE GUIDE

Contact the WJI Sales Team to reserve your space today. Bob Xeller | ext. 119 | bxeller@wirenet.org or Anna Bzowski | ext. 126 | abzowski@wirenet.org

ation failure. His research has included size-effects in plasticity of small volumes with applications to micro/nanotechnology. He has taken part in 40-plus research projects, many international and in collaboration with industry, and published more than 130 scientific papers. He is recipient of the Silver Medal of the Grupo Español de Fractura, the Europe Prize of the Centre for European Studies, University of Navarra and the Honour Plaque of the Asociación Española de Científicos. One letter supporting Gil Sevillano’s nomation cited his knowledge and enthusiasm for exploring new aspects of wire drawing. “He is a scientist who combines a fundamental understanding of structural aspects of deformation processes of metals with talent to implement results of findings of his research in the industry,” wrote CTU Prof. Jan Pilarczyk, himself a 2004 winner of the award.

Bouvier wins Donnellan award Brian A. Bouvier, the winner of the Donnellan Memorial Award for 2010, has long been an active member in the Association. He joined WAI in 1990, was elected to its Board of Directors in 2003 and was Association President in 2007. He has served on the Electrical, Membership and Wire Link Scholarship committees, the

ME TALLIC SOLUTIONS

The Zapp Group is now looking back over a 300-year history. Today the company beneﬁts with having production locations in Germany and the US. Our sales organisation is operating worldwide. Zapp is a premium supplier of metallic semi-ﬁnished products, with a focus on stainless steel, titanium and other high-value alloys. Our high quality standards enable our material to meet the needs of the most ambitious applications.

Publications Advisory Board and the Website Advisory Board and served as an Executive Committee liaison to several committees. A charter member of the New England Chapter, Bouvier served as its president in 1997. He is a member of the Machinery Dealers National Assn., the Assn. of Equipment and Machinery Appraisers, and the New England Brian A. Bouvier Wire and Cable Club. He holds a business degree from Bryant College and received a Charles D. Scott Distinguished Career Award in 2003. In 1972, Bouvier joined the manufacturing division of Standard Wire and Cable, where he held positions that included plant manager. From 1979-89 he was VP of New England Wire Machinery, which merged with Carter Lloyd, Inc., in 1986 and became New England CFL, Inc. In 1989 he helped establish Lloyd and Bouvier, Inc., a supplier of machinery to the wire and cable industry. A letter supporting the nomation said, “As a Donnellan Award recipient myself...it would be an honor to be recognized as a former winner with Brian. He has contributed countless hours to WAI and has guided the association through some turbulent times.” ■

Zapp Precision Wire, Inc. 475 International Circle Summerville, South Carolina 29483 Phone +1 843 851-0700, Fax +1 843 851-0010 Toll-free +1 888-777-3962 precisionwire-usa@zapp.com, www.zapp.com

DECEMBER 2009 | 35

WAI NEWS

(continued from p. 30)

CHAPTER CORNER

CHAPTER CORNER Joe Downes a memorable speaker at Ohio Valley’s Cleveland meeting There was no mincing of words by Joe Downes, Senior Vice President of Leggett & Platt, Inc., speaking at the Ohio Valley Chapter’s October 22 dinner meeting at the Cleveland Airport Marriott Hotel. Chapter President Robert Fulop introduced Downes, whose talk was memorable for its straight-forward delivery style to the 60-plus chapter members and guests who attended. Below is his presentation, edited for space. The State of the Steel Wire Industry Somewhere in the Wire Journal promo for this meeting I was referred to as an industry veteran. I suppose I am a veteran because I have been around this crazy industry for over 40 years, but I can assure you no amount of experience could have prepared me, and I’m sure most of you, for the wild ride we have had over the last 24 months. Since late 2007 we have seen raw material prices and other input costs skyrocket and then just as quickly collapse. We went from tight-supply to extreme over-supply in what seemed like hours. 2009 apparent consumption of ferrous rod could be down over 50% from 2008 and we may finish the year with apparent consumption below 2 m tons. This means that over the last 10 years apparent consumption of wire rod will be down a staggering 75%. While it is alarming, we do not believe this level of consumption (rod purchases) will last beyond year end because inventory reductions have contributed to some of the drop in rod shipments. Most apparent consumption estimates assume no change in inventory levels and that is certainly not the situation this year. A recent survey of AWPA members indicated a 36% drop in rod and wire inventories between January and August this year. Compared to October 2008 the inventory reduction is 56%. Shipments of wire and wire products may be down 40–45% from last year. A major portion of wire shipments in 2009 may have been produced from 2008 rod inventory hangover. Going into 2010, even if business remains flat the industry should buy more rod than this year. Most ferrous wire producers appear to have survived the

Leggett & Platt’s Joe Downes speaks during the Ohio Valley Chapter’s October 22 dinner meeting. economic crisis. Unfortunately along the way many jobs have been lost, plants closed and balance sheets have taken a beating; but bankruptcies have not been rampant. Considering the huge write-downs of inventory values this is remarkable and speaks to the resourcefulness of those in the industry. One benefit from enduring the crash is that survivors were forced to establish a cost structure that, I feel, should lead to quick bottom line improvement when there is a pickup in business. I am certainly not qualified to predict when that pickup will happen but the incremental profit from sales gains should be significant. My industry barometer has always been housing starts and automobile production. We seem to flourish when those industries are at reasonable levels. Cash for Clunkers and first-time homeowner tax credits have provided temporary help but this spurt is probably not sustainable until unemployment is reduced. Although pent up demand for all durable goods may be building, people without a job are survivalists and not consumers. With that in mind, I have concerns that we will not see any significant growth in the wire business in 2010. So what do we do in the meantime? I emphasize three words with our people: Cost, Cost and Cost. After maneuvering through the perils of the last 15 months, we must be relentless in our cost-containment efforts and guard against

New England Chapter meeting set for January 27, 2010, at Mohegan Sun The WAI New England Chapter’s 16th Annual Dinner Meeting is set for Wednesday, January 27, 2010, at the Mohegan Sun Conference Center in Uncasville, Connecticut, USA. The chapter will celebrate the successes of 2009 and look ahead to plans for 2010. The evening kicks off with a 5 pm networking reception, followed by a dinner buffet. Additional plans for the

36 | WIRE JOURNAL INTERNATIONAL

evening are being finalized and will be available soon including complete registration information. The Annual Meeting is consistently one of the best attended events of the year, and sponsorship opportunities will be available for companies which will be recognized at the event and in the WJI. For more information, contact WAI’s Chip Marsh at tel. 203-453-1748 or cmarsh@wirenet.org.

CHAPTER CORNER

a letdown when we see the first sign of an uptick. wire industries where generally production costs are globFor us, wire rod constitutes the largest input in our cost ally competitive. Unfortunately, when we do not play in a of goods and scrap is the main variable in rod production world of “fair” trade, low cost is not good enough. I suscosts. Compared to the last five or six years, scrap prices pect this is a concern for most in this room. this year have been below average. Is that sustainable? I am not a protectionist. In fact I have testified before the Probably not. Scrap is a globally traded commodity and ITC in support of open markets; however China and its some countries, like Turkey, consume significantly more trade-distorting actions have changed the landscape. In scrap than they generate domestically. Export demand recent years there have been numerous dumping actions seems to have as much effect on U.S. prices as our steel successfully initiated against various steel and wire prodproduction levels. Earlier this year when U.S. mills were at ucts from China. I expect this to continue. We are now less than 50% capacity, Turkish mills returned to the U.S. faced with illegal activities that avoid or circumvent appliscrap market and prices increased. This continued during cable duties. Products from China such as nails, coat-hangthe third quarter then eased when export orders began ers, threaded rod and wire inner-springs are subject to dropping in October. Scrap prices went up in June through dumping duties. These products are now being transOctober, when purchases from Turkey dropped back. Price shipped or otherwise illegally entering the country without volatility is likely to continue, but less than it did in 2008. paying the applicable duty. The legal system has been used Rod availability is also a price deterto factually prove dumping and importers minant. In 2009, the Gerdau rod mill in are now breaking our laws. If you are not What may have given Perth Amboy and the Mittal mill in yet affected by this type activity, hold on, Georgetown were closed, removing because you will probably be touched in you an advantage about 1.3 m tons of annual capacity some way in the future. several years ago is from the market. Most insiders now So what do we do now? Concentrate on calculate domestic rod production to be probably now just a product development and quality. What about 2.5 m tons. If we near 2007 conmay have given you an advantage several necessity for being in sumption levels of 3.8 m tons, supply years ago is probably now just a necessiwill be an issue. Import availability and today’s market. ty for being in today’s market. If you are price can limit domestic rod prices. making money with a product or process, — Joe Downes However, world markets determine someone is trying to replace you or capsteel product prices. What we pay for ture some of that profit. imports must be competitive with the rest of the world, so Stay politically connected and informed on matters that what happens (there) will impact our domestic rod prices. will affect your costs. If your congressional representative During the current economic crisis steel mills have chodoes not know you, introduce yourself. Let them know sen to reduce capacity rather than sell at a loss. This has where you stand on Cap & Trade, Card Check and Health provided some price support. The outlier here is China, Care. Don’t let Washington pursue an agenda, which may where production is reported to be higher than last year. on the surface sound like motherhood and apple pie, but This is a concern because in many cases major Chinese will put you at a competitive disadvantage to manufacturers mills are controlled by local governments or state-owned in other parts of the world. banks and they are often more concerned with providing Stay aware on trade matters. I hope you are immune from jobs than making a legitimate profit. This undermines the illegally traded imports. Make sure you are heard. price support production cuts in other parts of the world Finally, try to have a little fun. Some days that may be generate. If subsidized steel makes rod cheaper in China easier than others, but we are lucky to live in the USA. I than what is generally available in the rest of the world our have never traveled to another part of the world that, even products and those of our customers are at risk. with all our problems, would make me want to move. We all see reports on Chinese steel production. Most estimates put their capacity at plus or minus 600 m tons and So-so weather? Not an issue for production this year will exceed 500 m tons. We also read Southeast Chapter Tourney golfers about significant steel consumption within the country. Large volumes are undoubtedly going to infrastructure Misty weather did nothing to dampen the spirits of the 82 build and consumer products for the home market. golfers who took on the Jones course at Rock Barn Golf & Unfortunately, much of that internal consumption is also Spa in Conover, North Carolina, for the WAI Southeast Chapter’s 8th Annual Golf Tournament on Thursday, going into manufacturing companies producing fabricated October 15, 2009. Despite having to play through periods products that are then exported. This hurts our customer’s of light rain, the course proved to be both fun and challengproducts and if they don’t buy wire we don’t buy rod. ing to those who teed it up. I believe U.S. companies have done an outstanding job “We are really pleased at the turnout this year in light of bringing down costs. This is especially true in our steel and

38 | WIRE JOURNAL INTERNATIONAL

The 2009 winners: CommScope’s Jason Morrow, Hefner Reels’ Scott Ferguson and Tulsa Power’s Tim McElhany. the economy and the weather,” said tournament co-chair Tim McElhany. “It was really nice to have the opportunity to play the Robert Trent Jones course this year for the first time, and it seemed that everyone had a great day.” Using their mulligans wisely, two teams wound up tying for the day’s best score at 13 under par 59. A matching of

DECEMBER 2009 | 39

CHAPTER CORNER

scorecards awarded first place to the threesome of Jason Morrow of CommScope, Scott Ferguson of Hefner Reels and Tim McElhany of Tulsa Power Inc. Finishing second was the CommScope team of Brian Deese, Bob Gildea, Jim Lamb and Paul McConnell. The third place team, right behind with an 11 under par 61, included Bob Herrmann and Toby Galloway of Standard Tytape Co. Inc. along with Darryl Deitsch of Gateway Recovery Inc. Brian Deese, whose team came in second, showed his accuracy and power by winning the closest-to-the-pin contest on #9 and the long drive on #18. Other skills contest winners included Draka’s Shawn Fox, who nailed the long drive on hole #1; Brian Berry of Progress Container with his long drive on hole #7; accurate drive winners “Boston Bob” on #10 and CommScope’s David Irvin on #13; and closest-to-the-pin winners Eric Kessler of Insteel Wire Products on hole #15 and David Goins on hole #17. Nobody claimed the $10,000 hole-in-one contest, sponsored by Commission Brokers Inc./Martin Kenner. “It was great to have such strong sponsorship support for the tournament,” said Southeast Chapter President Steve

CHAPTER CORNER

Vannais of Davis-Standard. “This event is our primary means of funding the Southeast Chapter Scholarship Fund, where the real winners are the children of chapter members who earn $1,000 college scholarships.” The chapter thanks the following sponsoring companies: Clubhouse Awards Dinner: Okonite and Rosendahl & Nextrom Technologies; Beverage Carts: DavisStandard, Gateway Recovery Inc and Moorecraft Reels; Pre-Tournament Lunch: Tulsa Power; Closest to the Pin Contests: Carris Reels, Davis-Standard and Technical Development Corp.; Accurate Drive Contests: Beta LaserMike and Sikora; and Long Drive Contests: Amaral Automation Associates, Rosendahl & Nextrom Technologies and Zumbach Electronics Corp. Corporate hole sponsors included: American Kuhne, Breen Color Concentrates, Chromatics, Clinton Instrument, CommScope, Guill Tool & Engineering, Haynes Wire, Hefner Reels, JJ Lowe Associates, Kyocera Industrial Ceramics, Moorecraft Reels, PrintSafe, Sonoco Baker, Windak USA and Wire & Plastic Machinery. Plans are already underway for the 2010 tournament and information for the 2010 scholarship program will be mailed in the early spring. For more information, contact Chip Marsh at cmarsh@wirenetorg, tel. 203-453-1748.

Wild West Shootout: father-son part of winning team at Catalina Island With Catalina Island as a spectacular backdrop to the Los Verdes Golf Course, the WAI Western Chapter’s 9th Annual Wild West Shootout took place on Monday,

The team of Paul McLaughlin of NEPTCO, center, and F. Camarena Inc.’s father-son duo of Fred Camarena Sr. and Fred Camarena Jr., proved victorious at the Western Chapter’s 9th annual Wild West Shootout.

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40 | WIRE JOURNAL INTERNATIONAL

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Engineered Machinery Group Incorporated, Gem Gravure Co. Inc., James Monroe Wire & Cable Company, Leoni Wire Inc., PMC Technical Sales, Q-S Technologies Inc. and Thermax/CDT. Plans are already underway to return to the Los Verdes Golf Course next year, with a tentative date of October 25, 2010. Watch for details in future WJI issues as the plans get finalized. For more information about the Western Chapter, contact WAI Membership Director Chip Marsh at cmarsh@wirenet.org or at tel. 203 453-1748. ■

DECEMBER 2009 | 41

CHAPTER CORNER

October 26, 2009, at this scenic course in Rancho Palos Verdes, California. Thirty-two golfers enjoyed both the perfect weather and ideal course conditions to have a great day of golf and relaxing with wire and cable industry colleagues. Finishing first on the day was the team of Paul McLaughlin of NEPTCO and F. Camarena Inc.’s father-son duo of Fred Camarena Sr. and Fred Camarena Jr. The ever-elusive $10,000 grand prize for a hole-in-one, this year sponsored by Harbour Industries Inc., went unclaimed, but individual prizes were shared by a group of three, with Michael Howard of Coast Wire & Plastic Tech showing off his driving skills by winning both the long drive and the most-accurate drive contests; Rod Ambrose of Ambrose Industrial Sales was also a double winner, taking the other long drive and a closest-to-the-pin hole; and Engineered Machinery Group’s Jonathan shared in the glory by winning the other closest-to-the-pin contest. “It really was a spectacular day for golf,” said WAI Western Chapter President Michael Weiss of Whitmor/Wirenetics. “The new location worked very well, and everyone had a great time. Thanks very much to the companies who showed their support of the chapter as sponsors,” he declared. Corporate sponsors for the tournament included Commission Brokers Inc. and Lloyd & Bouvier Inc., which cosponsored the Awards Dinner and Reception; James Monroe Wire & Cable Co. which sponsored both a Long Drive hole and a Closest-to-the-Pin hole; Whitmor/Wirenetics, sponsors of the Long Drive and Accurate Drive holes as well as a Closestto-the-Pin hole; and W. Gillies Technologies LLC, which sponsored the other closest-to-the-pin hole. The list of corporate hole sponsors that helped make the event possible includes the following companies: Beta LaserMike, Champlain Cable Corporation, Daikin America,

EVENT WRAPUP

Wire Southeast Asia draws large attendee base The organizers of wire Southeast Asia 2009, the International Wire & Cable Trade Fair for Southeast Asia, which was co-located in Bangkok with Tube Southeast Asia 2009, say that the results were very positive for the wire and cable industry. The results “confirmed the event as the region’s No. 1 and most successful platform for the wire, cable, tube and pipe industry,” said a press release from Messe Düsseldorf that said “some 5,000 high caliber trade visitors from 57 countries (saw) the latest technology displayed by 305 exhibitors from 30 nations.” In it, Messe Düsseldorf Managing Director Joachim Schaefer said, “Despite the glob- Opening ceremonies at the wire event in Bangkok, Thailand. al economic downturn, many companies have not lost sight of sistently addressed the rising demand by cutting-edge their intent to enter the regional markets of Asia, in parmanufacturers for effective and efficient solutions.” ticular the Southeast Asian region which is perceived by ACIMAF President Ferruccio Bellina observed that, “At many as the land of opportunities.” wire Southeast ASIA 2009 we saw a significant number ASEAN visitors at wire and Tube Southeast Asia 2009 of visitors from outside of Thailand, particularly from were about 85% of attendance, indicating that such buycountries such as Iran, India, Vietnam and even the ers increasingly view Thailand as a business hub and Philippines and they have generated some positive leads. product distribution gateway, the release said. About 30% Although customers were more cautious with their investof the visitors were from outside of Thailand, it said. ments, business was still conducted and purchases were Messe Düsseldorf Asia Managing Director Gernot made. The companies exhibiting at the Italian Pavilion Ringling was pleased with the results. “wire and Tube were satisfied with their participation, the organization of Southeast Asia are regarded by the industry as Southeast the show and the quality of the visitors at wire Southeast Asia’s leading venues when it comes to acquiring the latAsia.” est manufacturing equipment and technology for the wire, “In comparison to the 2007 exhibition, the companies in cable, tube and pipe industries. Both trade fairs have conthe Austrian Pavilion have seen more high quality visitors at this year’s wire Southeast ASIA,” said AWCMA President Kurt Eder. “The 2009 event has been a good and efficient show.” One Austrian exhibitor, who noted that his company exhibited to show partners and customers that they are with them in good and bad times, said that overall, he was satisfied with the event. “At wire Southeast ASIA, although we have not met any new customers, we have received enquiries from the existing ones,” said Rosendahl Maschinen GmbH Sales Director Johann Jäkell. “Overall, we are satisfied with our participation given the current economic situation and are pleased with the organization by the show management.” Organizers say that some 5,000 people attended wire Southeast Asia.

42 | WIRE JOURNAL INTERNATIONAL

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PWM staff at the wire Southeast Asia. last day – in fact, people were still coming onto the stand as we were packing up the exhibits! “ said PWM Managing Director Steve Mepsted, who reported numerous sales leads. “Visitor quantity and quality were both good, with a large number of prospective buyers from Vietnam, India, Pakistan and Jordan.” Not every exhibitor had positive reviews. “The show in Bangkok was certainly not what we expected. There were very few visitors. Most of them were locals, a couple from Malaysia, no Chinese, no Indian, etc.,” said Enrico Romagnolo, Gimax Srl. “Whether this is due to the current economical situation is hard to say, but the same exhibition in China attracts a lot more visitors. wire China in 2008 was very well attended and I am sure that the 2010 edition will be the same. We expected it to be like the Singapore exhibition was many years ago, attracting customers from the entire Southeast Asia region, but thiswas not so. My feeling is that Shanghai has now become the Asian exhibition for Western exhibitors and for local Chinese exhibitors mainly because there are a lot of local exhibitors that finance it. Thailand does not really have any machinery manufacturers that would exhibit and support such an

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DECEMBER 2009 | 43

EVENT WRAPUP

VDKM President Gerhard Bartz said in the release that even in down economic times, it is important to for technical development to continue. “It is necessary to focus on the positive and to build solid and sound relationship with customers worldwide,” he said in the release. “Innovations and services as the two key ingredients needed to overcome the recession. Therefore it is the responsibility of the manufacturer to provide professional and excellent service and create innovations which are essential to meet the changing needs of the customers.” A Wafios AG advisor, he said the company was pleased with the visitor quality and the show’s organization and results, which he noted included an unexpected sale. One U.K. exhibitor also gave a good review to the event. “We were surprised by the high turnout. Visitor traffic was excellent and our stand was busy every day, right up to the

EVENT WRAPUP

From l-r, Wire and Plastic Machinery’s Rahul Sachdev, Rishi Narang and Greg Malcervelli. ‘important’ international show.” Wire and Plastic Machinery reported that it went to the event to follow up with its Asian customer-base, introduce new inventory offerings, and increase its exposure in Asian markets. Show activity had declined some, but the overall interest level and quality of visitors was good. Rishi Narang noted that there were some meaningful discussions with visitors on immediate and future projects. “It was my first time there and I found the event to be well organized,” he said. Sikora AG Sales Manager Knut Szemjonneck said there were fewer visitors than in 2007, but he saw optimism for business development in 2010 and plans to return in 2011. “Many of the projects which were put on hold in 2009 will be restarted in the upcoming year. Southeast Asia is a market that offers great potentials for the future. Our objective in participating at the show to create more awareness of its products, brand name and image was successfully reached.” Vimal Deora, Sampat Heavy Engineering Limited, said there was impressive interest for his company’s wire manufacturing equipment. “The encouraging atmosphere was a proof (that indicates the) recession is almost over.” For details on wire Southweast Asia 2011, contact: Messe Düsseldorf North America, tel. 312-781-5180; info@mdna.com, www.mdna.com. ■

The Sampat Heavy Engineering Limited booth. 44 | WIRE JOURNAL INTERNATIONAL

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EVENT WRAPUP

I N T E R N A T I O N A L

T E C H N I C A L

Cable & Wire

C O N F E R E N C E

Turkey conference draws ferrous and nonferrous industry The ferrous and nonferrous wire and cable industry was equally represented in historic Istanbul, Turkey, which was the setting for the one-day conference on November 2 that attracted some 150 participants. The event, jointly organized by the International Wire & Machinery Association (IWMA), the Associazione Costruttori Italiani Macchine Per Filo (ACIMAF), the Comité Européen de la Tréfilerie (CET), and The Wire Association International (WAI), was compressed from

the traditional two-day format to one in response to the difficult economic conditions. The educational content was offered in concurrent ferrous and nonferrous tracks that included 26 sessions. The ferrous technical sessions, attended by up to 50 people, covered a broad range of different topics: hot-dip coating, wiredrawing simulation, spring design, fluidized bed quenching and PC process equipment. “Like always, the sessions provided an excellent forum

Sarkuysan President Hayrettin Cayci, l, with WAI President Antonio Ayala.

A co-located event was put on by the International Tube Association (ITA). ITA Vice President Europe Gunther Voswinckel spoke during the dinner for both events.

46 | WIRE JOURNAL INTERNATIONAL

EVENT WRAPUP IWMA Chairman Stephen Wood.

The Mosque of Sultan Ahmed, better known as the “Blue Mosque,” was one of the colorful visitor attractions at the conference.

Attendees could choose between ferrous and nonferrous sessions.

Conference organized by: Associazione Costruttori Italiani Macchine Per Filo

C.E.T.

Comité Européen de la Tréfilerie

International Wire & Machinery Association

The Wire Association International, Inc.

DECEMBER 2009 | 47

EVENT WRAPUP

either for picking up interesting technical input in a domain you are familiar with (even with quite some internal resources you can always learn) or for an introductory exposure to developments in research, processing and equipment,” said Walther Van Raemdonck, general manager wire technology, N.V. Bekaert S.A., commenting on the ferrous track. The CET representative on the event’s organizing committee added that it was also an “excellent opportunity for networking with colleagues of the industry, which is facilitated by active participation in the discussion sections.” The electrical program began with a session from Sarkuysan President Hayrettin Cayci, who provided a welcome message and an overview of the nonferrous market. He described Turkey’s general economic condition as positive, with steady growth since the devastating economic crisis of Giovanni Cecchini, OM Lesmo, SpA, r, visits with Aldo Zanirato, WTM 2001, and observed that the country is the Srl, at his company’s tabletop post. energy gateway between the Middle East and southern Europe as well as the seventh largest automobile producing country and companies and under a different economic scenario, we the fourth largest ship builder. think more of the medium-to-small companies would have One attendee who approved of the site was Niehoff participated. We also expected to see more visitors from GmbH President Heinz Rockenhauser. “We encouraged neighboring countries. Without the recession, we are sure the organizers to consider Istanbul as the event location. more attendees would have shown up to take advantage of We were pleased to see the support from the larger local several real interesting presentations.” To begin the afternoon session, both tracks were combined for the keynote presentation by Dr. HeinzJürgen Büchner, vice president economics and research at IKB Deutsche Industriebank AG in Düsseldorf, Germany. Dr. Büchner compared the pronounced differences in the global economy, with growth expected in the BRIC countries, while that of the developed countries of Europe, Japan and the U.S. is below average. He emphasized that in the coming years, China’s middle class will rise to 100 million people. This large consumer group will not immediately have the same conAttendees gathered for the tour of the Vatan Kablo plant in Corlu. sumer needs as Western

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EVENT WRAPUP

countries, but the purchasing power will not be too different, he said. The day after the conference was set aside for a plant tour. Thirtyfive participants traveled the 100 kilometers west of Istanbul, along the beautiful Marmar Sea, to tour the Vatan Kablo operation. The plant, which is located in the industrial city of Corlu, Tekirda, began operations in 1975 and employees 200 people. After a briefing by company executives, the attendees were guided through the 90,000-sq-m plant with the first stop at the company’s new Upcast oxygen-free copper rod mill, which began operation in mid-2008. It was hard not to be impressed with this new installation that requires minimal manpower. The tour continued through the low- and medium-voltage produc-

Entertainment at the dinner included a harpist.

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tion areas including visiting the halogen-free cable operation. While the company stated that the global slowdown has impacted some of their export business, overall production continues to be strong across all product lines. “The event concluded on a real high note with a tour of Vatan Kablo, which is a world-class facility,” said WAI President Antonio Ayala. “The group was clearly impressed by the automation and excellent maintenance practices that were evident throughout the plant.” The event marks the fourth occasion that the organizers have collaborated to produce a technical conference. Previous conferences were held in Bologna, Italy (2007), Prague, Czech Republic (2005) and Stresa, Italy (2003). ■

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FEATURE

Fasteners T

he fastener industry, competitive in the best of times, has only gotten that much more so as the global economy

has sapped energy from key areas such as the auto and housing industries. This feature presents information from The Freedonia Group as well as observations from two fastener companies, a call for China to compete fairly by the AWPA and a look at the evolution of one fastener product.

Eyre said that 2009 saw a sharp drop in demand for most fastener products in the U.S. This drop reflected both the Taiwan is the world’s largest net exporter of fasteners, and decline in production for many durable goods which use fasnot incidentally, an oft-cited region for trade actions, but teners and the more moderate raw materials prices seen for what may be overlooked is that the U.S., Japan, China and much of the year, compared to the high costs early in 2008. Germany all produce more fasteners in terms of value, notes Despite the onset of the recession, U.S. fastener demand Brendan Eyre, an industry analyst for The Freedonia Group, increased in 2008 from 2007, he said. However, much of a U.S.-based company that has produced several reports on those gains were from price increases based on higher raw fasteners this year. material costs, despite metal prices beginThe Taiwanese fastener industry ning to drop as the economy started to has leveraged low labor and material contract midway through 2008, he costs into a favorable export-led observed. “Further, fastener demand position in the world fastener industends to lag durable goods shipment pertry, but that status may not always be formance to some degree, and my a given, Eyre said. “In the coming assumption would be that 2009 saw years, Taiwan will likely start to see demand drop pretty sharply for most fasthese advantages slip as production tener products in the U.S. That reflects of commodity-type fasteners shifts to both the decline in production for many even lower cost-producing countries, durable goods that use fasteners and the such as Indonesia and Malaysia, he more moderate raw materials prices seen said. “The Taiwanese will continue for much of the year, compared to the to be a major force because there is a high costs early in 2008.” significant domestic supply of a Going forward, demand growth in the number of types of steel used to proU.S. will be stimulated by a recovery in duce fasteners and these domestic motor vehicle production and continued sources are both fairly high quality While revenues for U.S. industrial fasincreases in aerospace equipment shipand relatively low cost, which proteners dropped in 2009, The Freedonia ments. However, fastener demand vides Taiwanese domestic fastener Group projects increases for fasteners increases in the U.S. and other developed suppliers with a significant competi- in general in 2010. Chart courtesy of countries will not be as strong as those tive advantage in the global market.” The Freedonia Group. expected in some developing countries, Volume understandably draws a lot particularly China. of attention, but The Freedonia Group tends to focus on Eyre said that the auto industry may be suffering now, but demand rather than profits, Eyre said. “I don’t specifically in the U.S. fastener growth should be strongest the next five track profit margins for any individual fastener companies or years in the aerospace and automotive markets. “Although markets. That being said, I strongly suspect that the markets the increased complexity of automotive fasteners will bolster with the most profit potential are those that require highlydemand in that market to some degree, the primary driver engineered, specialized fasteners, such as aerospace.”

Fastener sector should see better days

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of what a commodity fastener is. If one says that commodity fasteners are all those except aerospace-grade and application-specific products (i.e., those made to meet the requirements of specific applications, including automotive, aircraft, appliance, electric wiring, electronic equipment and ordnance uses), then commodity fasteners made up a bit more than 75% of U.S. demand in 2008. That share will likely edge down some through 2013, as growth prospects for aerospace-grade and application-specific fasteners are slightly better than they are for standard fasteners, but the commodity products likely will still account for nearly 75% of the U.S. market in 2013. If one applies the above definition, then commodity fasteners account for about 85% of total global demand, Eyre said. “The above estimate gives us a ceiling for the commodity market in percentage terms, but it is important to note that within the standard fastener market there are certainly some non-commodity products, for instance those manufactured using specialty alloys or products such as tension control bolts. While we don’t break out commodity-types in our study, I would knock down the above estimates at least 1015%, which puts the U.S. market for ‘commodity’ fasteners at 60-65% of the total and the global share at 70-75%. Asked about the role of trade actions in the fastener field, Eyre said that he believes the prevalence of so many trade actions/complaints “is simply the result of the vastness of the global fastener trade.” There are relatively few barriers to entry, particularly at the low-cost end of the industry, and that fasteners are used in a broad range of applications throughout the world, he said. “As a result, aggregate world trade in fasteners is huge, and naturally disputes arise.” The Freedonia Group can be contacted at tel. 440-6849600, www.freedoniagroup.com.

Evolution of a fastener

fer and productivity requirements of this application demanded a new fastening system. The XPL was developed to meet this need. AFS had long been working with Airbus so we were in a position to discuss the application challenges with the customer and to develop the XPL in parallel to the development of the A380 design.

Many fasteners are considered commodities, but some fasteners—including those that offer more potential to companies that prefer to be in sectors where the lowest possible cost is not the overriding factor—are anything but. WJI asked Alcoa Fastening Systems (AFS), an Alcoa business unit based in California with more than 6,000 employees and 21 manufacturing locations in nine countries, to discuss the evolution of one of its more advanced fasteners, the XPL Lockbolt, which is being used by Airbus. Below are answers provided by Bob Gurrola, Customer Applications Engineering Manager. WJI: How did the XPL® Lockbolt come about? Was it from a direct request from Airbus, or was it perceived that there was a market for this product and once it was developed, Airbus became a customer? Gurrola: The XPL® Lockbolt was launched to meet the challenging needs of assembly for the A380 center wing box. The hybrid composite-metallic design, high load trans-

Views of the XPL® Lockbolt, a registered trademark of Alcoa Global Fasteners Inc./subsidiary companies. Photo used by permission.

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will be the expected recovery of motor vehicle production levels from the lows of 2008. Demand growth in the aerospace market will be the result of more highly engineered, higher-value fastening products being utilized in planes, particularly as larger aircraft are being produced. Growth in this market will be restrained to some extent, however, by the growing use of composite materials in aircraft bodies, which require fewer fasteners.” Other niches should see some opportunities, such as fasteners for the U.S. wind energy industry, Eyre said. He noted that fasteners used for wind turbines are often specialized large-diameter, Brendan Eyre, The high-value products. Business strategy can have Freedonia Group. a lot to do with the range of fasteners a company makes, Eyre said. For instance, there are companies that do serve both commodity and higher-end fastener markets, often via different production lines or productions runs on a given line, he said. That can especially be true for the industrial machinery or automotive markets, he noted, but being competitive in both commodity-grade and highly engineered fasteners is not an easy combination as this “often requires significant management efforts to successfully implement this strategy.” Asked for an estimate of the overall percentage of fasteners that are commodity grade, Eyre said that one has to agree on a definition

FEATURE

WJI: Does this fastener represent a modest change to an existing fastener, or does it represent a unique design (and if so, why)? And, how sophisticated is it? Gurrola: The XPL Lockbolt is significantly different from earlier Lockbolt systems in that it required greater strength performance and so required a new collar design and materials, new annular lock groove designs, new headstyles, significantly larger diameters and a new pintail design for the largest diameters. In addition, the unique double-grip capability of the XPL that provides greater shop-floor flexibility while lowering inventory and procurement costs required a significantly different design. Comparing it to other two-piece structural fasteners, I would say that it is very sophisticated. The sophistication that is present in the lock groove design and collar design may not be visually evident at a glance, but it is evident in the superior mechanical performance over a wide (0.134”) grip range in a variety of installation conditions. I would say it is definitely a new, distinct, unique fastening system. Nonetheless, it, like almost every new product, builds on the technology of previous fastening systems. WJI: How long did it take to go from concept to commercial production, and is that timeframe typical for a new product? Gurrola: From the initial concept to first production was about 12 months. The XPL product line is very diverse and even to this day, new variants are being added. There is no typical timeframe for new products as some have difficult challenges which might take two or three years to overcome while others are relatively straightforward and can go from concept to production in just a few months. WJI: Is it likely that this exact same bolt will be sold a decade from now or is it likely to evolve in response to

demands for more strength, lower weight or other new performance requirements? Gurrola: It is very likely that the XPL fastener will be sold one, two, or even three decades from now more or less in its current configuration. This has certainly been the case in the past with successful designs, and we see no reason why this would be any different for the XPL. Any minor improvements that might be made would be incremental type changes that would not affect form, fit, or function. Market demands for a fastening system with significantly higher performance characteristics (greater strength, lower weight, etc.) would be met with new fastening systems that are yet to be developed. WJI: Can the XPL Lockbolt be counterfeited? Gurrola: It wouldn’t be too difficult to produce a part that looks like an XPL, but it would be impossible to produce a product that has the same high reliability and high performance as the XPL without technical knowledge of the proprietary design details and manufacturing processes necessary to produce this fastener. As with all aerospace fastening systems, the user should take great care to ensure that the parts they are procuring are genuine. WJI: Can the XPL Lockbolt be used (or adapted for) other fastener applications? Are potential alternative uses always considered in designing new fasteners? Gurrola: Many of the characteristics that are so important for aerospace applications like high strength-to-weight ratios, extremely high degrees of reliability, precise dimensional control, are less important for other industries. Nevertheless, it is not uncommon for aerospace fasteners to find niche applications in other industries where their high performance is critical. We would certainly expect this to be the case for the XPL as well.

Perspective: Ohio Rod Products The previous twelve months presented the most challenging set of business conditions our company has encountered since the early 1980s. Our focus during this time has been on several areas, chief among them an aggressive management of raw material schedules and receipts, implementation of key operator training that occurred prior to and during the early months of the current (or should I say “recently concluded”) recession, and maintenance of lean manufacturing procedures that enabled us to realize significant lead time reductions on deliveries to our customers. Our outlook for the future of the fastener industry is one of cautious optimism. The challenges presented by domestic and foreign competition will not disappear; the only thing that may change in this regard is the location of the competition. We recognize the importance of developing new business to offset loss of accounts or products

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From l-r, Tim Busching, Vice President/Marketing/ Elgin Fastener Group; Ryan Detmer (Inside Sales Correspondent/Ohio Rod Products); and Kent Carter (Sales Engineer/Elgin Fastener Group).

reduction within the reel market by implementing lean manufacturing procedures that have significantly streamlined our process operations. That activity led to a 33% reduction in lead time on reel bolt orders. We have also been an active participant in on-site consignment programs for customers, this dating as far back as 1985. This type of program has subsequently expanded into many of Ohio Rod’s other product line offerings. We also have continued to offer more to our customers, such as introducing reel hardware (cup washers, flat/ fender washers, lock washers, T-nuts, square nuts, hex nuts, nylon lock nuts, hex head cap screws, metal arbor plates) to our product line for the reel industry. This was developed through the combined efforts of our offshore sourcing division, Elgin Fasteners International, and the sales/marketing team at Ohio Rod. The reel hardware line debuted at the 2008 Wire Expo in Pittsburgh and has given our reel accounts another option in consolidation of sourcing. We have also made sure that, even in hard times, we have the necessary resources, such as the recent assignment of Kent Carter, a sales engineer with more than 25 years of fastener experience, to our outside sales roster. That’s the kind of commitment we believe customers want to see.

Perspective: Hill Fastener Corporation

tions and engineering requirements led us to target the heavy truck industry, which remains our largest market today. To service that market, we had to expand capacity not only in our existing largest sizes, but we had to increase capability once again in both diameter and length.

Hill Fastener Corporation President Robert Hill, the third generation of Hills in the fastener industry, shared his thoughts about the industry with WJI. His grandfather spent 50 years with Russell Burdsall & Ward (aka RB&W), retiring as plant superintendent at its facility in Rock Falls, Illinois. His father started there after World War II in 1946, and succeeded his father as plant superintendent. In 1957, his father left the company and, along with his cousin, started the Hill Fastener Corporation, also in Rock Falls. Working elsewhere after college, Robert Hill joined the company’s management team in 1978, and bought the company in 1990. WJI: How has your company changed over the years in terms of its product lines? Hill: Our product line has changed in two major ways over the years; (a) increasing diameter and length; and (b) production of metrics as well as common (inch) sizes. Our original primary sales were to the builder’s hardware industry. As that OEM manufacturing began to move offshore, we targeted the farm implement industry, and that became our primary market for many years. That necessitated getting into metrics and a size increase in the product diameters we offered. Our experience in manufacturing to those specifica-

Hill Fastener Corporation President Robert Hill.

WJI: What are the biggest concerns you have about the industry today? Are those concerns any different than they were during the last industry down cycle? Hill: The early 1980s were tough on Hill Fastener, as they were on many others. We were highly leveraged at that time, and prime interest rates grew to over 20%. It was the first time Hill Fastener experienced negative growth, and we were forced to eliminate a shift and lay off employees. I learned two important lessons from that experience; diversify DECEMBER 2009 | 55

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that will inevitably occur, and we actively pursue opportunities to add business by keeping our machine inventory updated at all of the Elgin Fastener Group locations. To understand our approach to the fastener industry, you need to know some background on Ohio Rod Products, which has a well-established reputation as a dependable supplier of reel bolts to the plywood, nailed wood, steel, and plastic reel markets. Since 1966, we have manufactured reel bolts and other cold formed fasteners at our 130,000-sq-ft. facility in Versailles, Indiana, serving the reel industry while growing market share through dedicated customer service and acquisitions of other reel bolt manufacturers. Our 1990 purchase of Demby Rod and Fastener Manufacturing provided additional production capacity and entry into the ½ -13 diameter market, and our 2006 buyout of Rhode Island Fabricators paved the way for production of 5/8-11 diameter bolts. These two acquisitions, when combined with Ohio Rod’s existing production of 10-24, ¼-20, and 3/8-16 reel bolts, firmly established us as a premium full range supplier. As a member of the Elgin Fastener Group, we have continued to utilize capital investment in additional machinery over the past 8 months. This has resulted in positive posturing for the anticipated return to prerecession business conditions in 2010. We have reacted to the ongoing emphasis on lead time

FEATURE

and build a cash reserve. Both these lessons have served us well during this most recent economic downturn. WJI: What are your biggest concerns about the fastener sector today? Are those concerns any different than they were during the last industry down cycle? Hill: The biggest challenge to domestic fastener manufacturers today is unfair foreign competition. Overtures to our lawmakers seem to fall on deaf ears. Chinese currency is extremely undervalued, by some estimates it’s between 30% and 40%. Supposedly one of the requirements for China to be allowed to join the World Trade Organization (WTO) was to let their currency “float.” They have been unwilling to do so. Nucor Fastener, a division of Nucor Steel, filed a suit with the International Trade Commission (ITC) in September this year that alleged between 2006 and 2008 China was dumping certain fasteners in the U.S. with margins against Nucor products from 67% to 206% below cost. However, the ITC just ruled 6-0 against the Nucor action. Our experience at Hill Fastener seems to show Chinese products sold at a consistent 40% reduction from our best price. It’s hard to compete in these circumstances. WJI: Does the U.S. domestic industry have the technology to be competitive without trade actions? Hill: As I said earlier, I favor trade actions to put domestic manufacturers back on an even playing field. When we think of “low-cost producers” we think of low-cost labor. That is a factor, of course, but if we could reduce our labor by 90%, we would only be able to reduce our selling price by 9%. Where does the other 30% price difference come from? We can cite OSHA, EPA requirements, Workers Comp. Insurance, etc., to make up some of the difference, but in my opinion it still comes down to China’s artificially depressed currency, and our government's inaction in that regard. WJI: Can U.S. fastener manufacturers get any leaner? Hill: U.S. fastener manufacturers were practicing “lean manufacturing” before the phrase was coined. We are low cost producers, with an industry-wide labor rate of less that 10% of our sales dollar. The strides in efficiencies in this industry have come from reduction of waste and scrap. This began in the 1980s with the introduction of Statistical Process Control (SPC), various automotive driven quality programs such as Q1, Spear, QS 9000 and TS16949, along with more general quality systems such as International Standards Organization (ISO) 9001-2008, which became a popular way to conform to the Fastener Quality Act (FQA) aka Federal Law 101-592. WJI: Are there any fastener trends that you see becoming more important in the coming years for U.S. fastener manufacturers? Hill: In light of the current political climate, it will be

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more important than ever for domestic fastener manufacturers to focus on problem solving. This includes innovative (and hopefully proprietary) fastener designs, fastener application engineering, forming of specialty metals, understanding of coatings and platings for specific applications, functions of locking materials and their environment, etc. We need to make our customers’ jobs easy when it comes to fastener specifications. WJI: Is the current fastener market inherently harder for small fastener manufacturers? Hill: I don’t feel the fastener market is inherently harder for small fastener manufacturers. If smaller companies such as Hill Fastener are not afraid to invest in good equipment and good people, then they can become the best problem solvers, as they can be quicker to respond to a need or an opportunity without the high overhead and political structure of their larger competitors. Less “baggage” if you will. WJI: Aside from some of the larger fastener manufacturers, has R&D been largely cut back, and if so, what does that mean for the future? Hill: Market conditions have required all fastener manufacturers to tighten their belts. Unfortunately, some were already on the last notch. There already has been, and will continue to be, some fallout in the industry. Those that remain will be stronger, and have an opportunity to participate in accounts they did not previously have. At the same time, all manufacturers have had to look long and hard at spending discretionary dollars, and that has had a negative impact on both R&D as well as capital equipment purchases. To further complicate matters, layoffs, usually of younger workers, will come back to haunt the industry in years to come. First, it will limit a company's ability to gear up if additional production opportunities come quickly and those laid off have found other employment. Secondly, we will find a sizeable skill and experience gap between the “old guys” as they retire, and younger machine operators and middle managers. WJI: Do you have a long-term view of where see U.S. fastener manufacturers competing a decade from now? Hill: Currently, domestic fastener manufacturers, like everyone else, are trying to ride out the recession. Unfortunately, when we speak of depressed manufacturing, we are speaking not only of ourselves, but our customers as well. The automotive fastener manufacturers have seen a temporary uptick, brought on by the inventory reduction from the “cash for clunkers” program, and the probability of a prolonged holiday shutdown of auto assemblies at the end of this year. Aerospace fastener manufacturers were doing quite well at the beginning of the year, but the recession has now hit them, too. We see airlines cutting back on flights, markets and equipment purchases as both pleasure and business travel continues to be slow. Construction fastener manu-

WJI: Anything else you’d like to comment on? Hill: My final comments regarding this industry have to do with perception. It is difficult to find good young workers to come in to a factory environment. The idea of factory work

AWPA: China needs to live up to its World Trade Organization obligations Representatives from the American Wire Producers Association (AWPA) took the following information to their legislators this fall. AWPA members represent 80-90% of the production of carbon, alloy and stainless steel wire and wire products in the U.S. and almost all of the North American production of carbon and stainless wire rod. For more details on AWPA, go to www.awpa.org. The Problem American manufacturers of steel rod, wire and wire products confront an extraordinary distortion of trade patterns as a consequence of border tax measures by the Chinese government that violate its international trade obligations. China has imposed export taxes on carbon steel wire rod while extending substantial value added tax (VAT) rebates on finished downstream wire products, creating distortions that directly and adversely impact the U.S. manufacturers of these products. In 2007, the Chinese government eliminated its VAT rebates on exports of wire rod, but it continued to provide for VAT rebates for some wire and many wire products, all of which are manufactured from wire rod. After eliminating the VAT export rebate on wire rod, the Chinese government imposed an export tax on wire rod – a tax that was raised from 10 to 15 percent on January 1, 2008. There are no similar export taxes on downstream wire or wire products. The use of export taxes and licenses to limit exports violates China’s Protocol of Accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO). The imposition of export taxes on wire rod encourages the retention of this basic material input in China, resulting in greater availability and lower input costs for Chinese wire and wire products manufacturers. In addition, China’s VAT rebates subsidize the exportation of downstream wire products. Together, these programs manipulate China’s tax laws to favor Chinese industries which export

seems as if it is a step down the social ladder. Young people are persuaded to look for a job where they “don’t get their hands dirty,” and yet machine operators in our industry make as much or more in wages than many clerical and mid-managerial positions. Our operators must be educated, with a good understanding of math, geometry, decimals, fractions, metrics, statistics, and blueprint reading. They are mechanics, troubleshooters and inspectors all in one. It is both a challenging and a rewarding field. I would like to see a trend where young people would choose factory work, particularly in the fastener field, as a career. This will have to come from educators as well as parents as they help students plan their future.

downstream products to the United States and other countries. These practices violate the commitments made by the Chinese government when it joined the WTO. The specific violations of China’s international obligations are: (1) China’s export taxes on wire rod violate section 11.3

The increasing role of imports can be seen in this chart of U.S. domestic shipments and import activity from 2003 to June 2009. Chart courtesy of AWPA.

of China’s Protocol of Accession to the WTO; (2) China’s export licensing requirements on wire rod violate Article XI:1 of the GATT and Part I, Section 7.2 of China’s Protocol of Accession; (3) China’s differential tax scheme is a prohibited export subsidy that violates Article 3 of the SCM Agreement, Articles VI and XVI of the GATT, and Part I, Section 10.3 of China’s Protocol of Accession to the WTO; (4) China’s discriminatory, steel-specific border measures are causing adverse effects to the interests of the United States and as such also constitute an actionable subsidy under

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facturers will probably be the last to recover, as both housing and commercial building is depressed. This also affects the appliance fastener manufacturers, as fewer new units are built for apartments, condos, etc. Finally, industrial fastener manufacturers such as Hill Fastener continue to look for new opportunities, sometimes due to smaller quantities required by our customers who would in other circumstances import a larger “container quantity.” Flexibility and prompt delivery are coveted in these uncertain times.

FEATURE

Articles 5 and 6.3 of the SCM Agreement; and (5) China’s differential export tax scheme, export taxes on wire rod, and export licensing requirements for wire rod further nullify or impair benefits of the United States within the meaning of Article XXIII: 1(b) of the GATT. The AWPA member companies have been working with officials at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) to try to address these violations. Background Preliminary discussions with the USTR led to the participation of an AWPA member company representative in the meeting of the US-China Steel Dialogue which was held in Beijing in October 2008. The USTR agreed that our industry has a unique story to tell and encouraged the AWPA to participate in the Steel Dialogue. The AWPA representative made a presentation at the Steel Dialogue regarding trends in Chinese exports of wire rod and representative wire products. He pointed out that Chinese exports of wire rod to the United States dropped significantly beginning in 2007 (when the VAT rebate for wire rod was eliminated), while at the same time exports of Chinese wire and wire products – already sizeable – increased significantly to the United States. Moreover, the average unit values of imported Chinese wire products are below the average unit values of U.S. imports from all other countries. Status During the Steel Dialogue meeting in Beijing in October 2008, the Chinese government acknowledged that a distortion did exist but claimed that it had the right to limit exports of wire rod due to an alleged adverse impact of increased wire rod production on the country’s environment. USTR officials countered that this argument is not plausible because domestic rod production within China was not being reduced. Following the meeting, there was some optimism by both US trade officials and AWPA’s representative that the Chinese government was likely to modify its export tax scheme. Two weeks after the meeting in Beijing, the Chinese government did announce the removal of export taxes on many steel products, but it did NOT remove or reduce the export tax on wire rod. Just after this announcement, representatives of the AWPA met with USTR officials and discussed the possibility of a WTO challenge of China’s export tax on wire rod. On April 1, 2009, the Chinese government raised the VAT rebates to 9% and 13% on some selected downstream products including chain; grates, cookers and barbecues; and table, kitchen or other household articles. While Chinese exports of wire and wire products have declined in volume, they continue to increase as a percent of U.S. market share.

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The chart on the proceeding page illustrates the magnitude of the problem. AWPA Position It is the AWPA’s position that the Chinese government’s disparate treatment of wire rod in relation to other basic steel products undermines any potential defense based on environmental concerns. If the Chinese authorities were motivated by such concerns, why did they remove the export taxes on other basic steel products in 2008 when these steel products present the same environmental concerns and, in fact, are likely to have an even greater adverse impact on the environment than the production of wire rod? Moreover, wire rod continues to be produced in China – it just remains in China, rather than being available for export. It appears that China’s actions are driven not by concerns about the environment but by a commercial calculation to promote the production and exportation of downstream wire and wire products manufactured from wire rod. These downstream products have higher added values than wire rod, and the Chinese companies that make them employ large numbers of workers. By pointing to the unjustified disparate treatment of wire rod compared with other basic steel products, AWPA believes that the USTR can effectively refute any legal defense that the Chinese government may raise based on environmental issues. Actions The AWPA continues to work with USTR to find appropriate remedies to end China’s unlawful and trade-distorting practices and to eliminate China’s disparate tax treatment of exports of wire rod and wire products. The AWPA will continue to participate in future US/China negotiations as the USTR urges China to stop these harmful and unsupportable practices. Further, the USTR should coordinate with our trading partners in objecting to China’s border tax policies that are negatively impacted by these market distorting practices. In addition, Congress should pass legislation that will provide tools to US industry to combat subsidized imports and manipulative tax policies. Such proposed legislation may include: • S 1027 and HR 2378, Currency Reform for Fair Trade Act of 2009, which treats currency undervaluation as a prohibited export-contingent subsidy within the context of the US antidumping and countervailing duty law. • HR 496, Trade Enforcement Act of 2009, which codifies the application of countervailing laws to non-market economy countries and strengthens Section 421 which was designed to counteract injury to US industries caused by surging imports from China. ■ For more details on AWPA, go to www.awpa.org.

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AND IMPORTANT PAPERS Some of the most important documents in the wire and cable industry are the technical papers presented at Wire Association International conventions. But many authors lack the proper funding needed to travel for speaking opportunities, which means that even the most world-wise ideas could stay packed away somewhere without a destination.

You’ve done your research. And we’ve developed a plan to help give your ideas wings. Don’t delay. Contact The Wire Foundation today to inquire about available funds for educational travel. You may just find that you’ve arrived.

The Wire Foundation, Inc. 1570 Boston Post Road | P.O. Box 578 | Guilford, CT 06437-0578 | Telephone: 203-453-2777

MORDICA LECTURE

MORDICA LECTURE -Drawing induced structural and mechanical anisotropy Understanding the effects of drawing parameters on material flow and resulting anisotropy of properties contributes to effective production control and further advances in technology By Etienne A.D. Aernoudt It is still unclear when the first wires were produced by drawing through circular dies. Several findings from prehistoric times have an irregular cross-section, proving that they are made by slitting flat forged metal into strips and hammering these strips into smaller nearly round sections. This is illustrated by the wire supporting the golden hairpin (ca. 2500 BC) from the early Minoan culture in Fig 1. Almost one millennium later, in the 8th century BC, Homeros wrote that “wires as fine as the fibres of a spider’s web were forged between hammer and anvil in order to weave them into a net to catch the adulterous Aphrodite and Ares.” Thus at the dawn of our civilization, people were able to make but not draw wire. The “slit and hammer” method remained dominant for an unknown period. Beautiful, wire-containing pieces of art were made, but for a wire engineer it is clear that applying successive blows in different directions leads to an

Fig. 1. Gold hairpin from early Minoan cemetery (2500 B.C.) - Crete.

irregular metal flow and irreproducible metal properties. Later on, wiredrawing through stone die plates containing small holes might have been conducted, but no such plates have hitherto been found. Although iron die plates probably existed in Roman times, the oldest such die plate comes from a 900 AD Viking grave1. From then on, drawing of perfectly round wires became an established art of metal forming, characterized by a homogeneous metal flow with rotational symmetry.

Metal flow in wiredrawing The first material flow studies were made by visioplasticity methods. These consisted of analyzing the deformation of grids applied on longitudinal sections of drawn wire and thus determining stress and strain field in the die2.

Fig. 2. In each wire layer, deformation is a superposition of orthogonal elongation and superimposed shear. Shear is largest near the surface and is zero in the center.

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aluminium, copper and silver wires are [111] and [001]. “Cylindrical fiber” components (112)[ī ī 1], (111) [ī ī 2] or their symmetrical orientations (112)[11 ī], (111) [112] and (110) [001] are characterizing the sheared layers. Copper has stronger [001] components than aluminium, most probably being related to a different substructure evolution. Texture differences between silver wire and copper or aluminium wires are related to the additional occurrence of mechanical twinning in silver7, alongside crystallographic slip. However, all cylindrical components have a common circumferential [110] preferred orientation, which leads to an easy rotation of the components in each other, e.g. when changing drawing direction or die geometry.

Textures in BBC wires

Fig. 3. Strain tensor in every point in the die. with ε22 = ε33 = - ε11/2 , and the shear ε12 = ε21 being maximum close to the die surface and decreasing to zero in the center of the wire.

Material flow and textures It is well known that crystallographic slip as a fundamental deformation mechanism reorients the original orientation distribution of grains and sub-grains into typical “deformation textures.” Each strain mode and each strain path leads to specific deformation textures. We thus can expect the texture close to the surface to be different from that in the middle of a drawn wire. Unidirectional drawing gives different textures from reverse drawing. Changing die geometry or friction conditions5 will also have an influence on texture development. The method of measuring surface texture in thick wire is shown in Fig.4a. In the center of a wire, orthogonal flow takes place, leading to so-called “normal fibre textures,” characterized by one or more preferred crystallographic orientations [uvw] in drawing direction and a random distribution of crystal directions perpendicular to the [uvw] axes. Outside the center and with increasing intensity closer to the surface (an intensity change depending on die geometry), a “cylindrical fiber texture” is formed, being characterized by one or more axial preferred orientations combined with one or more selected [hnknln] directions, perpendicular to the wire surface6. As in metals with cubic crystal structure, a [hkl] direction is perpendicular to a (hkl) plane; the usual notation for a cylindrical fiber texture component is (hnknln)[uvw]. Once a preferred (hnknln)[uvw] texture component is identified, the preferred circumferential direction (hckclc) is known, because hnhc + knkc + lnlc = 0. “Normal fiber” preferred orientations in the center of drawn

Body-centered cubic (BBC) metals, like iron, tantalum and tungsten, rotate into a strong [110] orientation in drawing direction, and weaker but measurable preferred [hnknln] orientations perpendicular to the wire surface, linked to a preferred [001] orientation in circumferential direction. The strength of the cylindrical (110) [1 ī 0] component close to the wire surface, depends on the drawing conditions. Note: Of course, the description of textures by preferred orientations gives only a rough picture of the real orientation distribution. Preferred orientation indices are deduced from the position of intensity maxima in pole figures, (stereographic projections). Even pole figures give only a semi-quantitative picture, but they have the advantage of presenting a clear aerial view of the distribution of selected crystallographic planes viz. directions, in the polycrystalline material. Quantitative description of orientation distributions—the so-called ODF representations—have been developed by Bunge10 in the 1960s. ODF measurements now have become the standard instrument in texture analysis.

Fig. 4. a) Specimen preparation for measuring surface textures in thick wire; b) Difference between a “normal” [001] and a “cylindrical” (100) [001] fiber texture. DECEMBER 2009 | 61

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In recent times, the history of modelling metal flow in drawing operations has gone hand-in-hand with the availability of greater computing power. Successively, upper-bound methods, slip-line fields, streamline studies, and advanced finiteelement analysis have led to a better understanding of the influence of friction, die geometry and material properties on material flow3-4. In spite of the complexity of all those influences, it remains true that the basic characteristic of metal flow in drawing is a superposition of orthogonal axisymmetric compression and longitudinal shear, as seen in Fig. 2 and described by the following strain tensor:

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The work needed for a given strain in a multiaxial forming process is given by the product Σ σij.dεij. In the case of a tensile test, the expression is reduced to σ.dε. As that strain is realized by slips dγs on the active slip systems s, the former expression can also be written as Σ τc.dγs. Assuming the critical shear stress to be a constant, which is a first approximation, we can write σ = τc. Σ dγs/dε or σ= MTE.τc with MTE = Σ dγs/dε . The MTE-factor thus represents the amount of slip on the active slip systems that is needed to realize a given tensile strain. Computer calculations show that the value of MTE = 3.6 for grains with [111]-orientation, 2.45 for grains with [100]-orientation, and 3.06 for a random orientation distribution. Similarly, M-factors can be calculated for any other strain mode, e.g. for torsion (MTO), plane strain and for any orientation or orientation distribution. In the absence of texture (random orientation distribution), the ratio of MTO (1.65) to MTE (3.06), which equals the shear to tensile flow stress ratio τ0/σ0, was calculated to be 0.54, Fig. 5. {111} pole figures showing: a (111) normal fiber texture which is very close to the result obtained by a with a strong (112) [ī ī 1] cylindrical component in the surface Tresca yield criterion in isotropic plasticity. layer of a forward drawn aluminum wire; b: increasing the The texture components measured in the (110) [001] component on reversing the drawing direction and extruded PM material were a [100] normal installing the symmetrical (112)[11 ī]; c: a strong [111] and a fiber, a strong (100)[001] and a weaker weak [001] normal fiber texture in the same wire. (110)[001] component. In the cold drawn and annealed material a strong (112) [ī ī 1] and (110) [001] were recorded. The ideal τ0/σ0 An example of texture strengthening ratios for each of the texture components present are summarized in Table I. The influence of cylindrical texture components on the flow Setting the influence of each texture component on properstress of FCC wire and rod can be clearly demonstrated in the ties proportional to its intensity in the pole figures, τ0/σ0 ratios case of dispersion hardened Copper (0.5 vol % Al2O3), powwere calculated, and an excellent agreement was found. The der-metallurgically extruded and subsequently drawn. Its flow calculated ratios of shear to tensile flow stress τ0/σ0 varied stresses were compared with those of an equally extruded and from 0.57 for an extruded, drawn and annealed pure copper drawn electrolytic copper rod11.

Fig. 6. Mechanical twinning is responsible for strong (110)[001] texture in forward drawn silver; (200)-pole figure. 62 | WIRE JOURNAL INTERNATIONAL

MORDICA LECTURE Fig. 7. a) Strong cylindrical (110)[1 ī 0] and weak (001) [1 ī 0] textures in drawn iron wire; b) similar cylindrical texture measured at the surface of a drawn 0.25 mm wire that the former orientation has a [001] circumferential direction

with very weak texture, to 0.87 for the dispersion-hardened extruded material. Conclusion: some particular copper alloys can be made almost as strong in torsion as in tension, if by a suitably chosen forming history a strong (100)[001] cylindrical cube texture can be installed. Further drawing and annealing, however, installs a (112)[ī ī 1] cylindrical fiber texture and the flow stress ration decreases again to 0.54.

during any deformation mode, for which a material flow model is available12,13. So, as will be shown later, predicting cylindrical texture components in fine drawn steel wires, for which the experimental procedure of Fig. 4 is extremely difficult, is now possible. The basic tool is the so-called “full-constraint,” or FC Taylor model, which assumes homogeneous strain of all grains and sub-grains along a given flow-line through the die, resulting in a microscopic strain history identical to the macroscopic one..

Modeling deformation textures Next to the advanced ODF texture analysis mentioned earlier, reliable mathematical models nowadays allow one to predict with acceptable precision the development of textures

Normal or cylindrical fiber orientation

τ0//σ0 = MTO/MTE

Table I. Torsion/tension flow stress ratios, calculated for different orientations and orientation distributions.

Fig. 8. Evolution of cell (subgrain) size in μm as a function of wiredrawing strain for copper, iron and aluminum. The dotted line should be followed if the size would change in conformity with wire crosssection. DECEMBER 2009 | 63

MORDICA LECTURE Fig. 9. a) Transverse section of a severely drawn steel wire of eutectoid composition (a micrograph of the grain-subgrain structure of a drawn low-carbon steel shows the same curling effect); b) Van Gogh painting with cypress and typical curled sky and grain field.

Material flow and substructure formation Cold working activates dislocation sources on the most strongly stressed slip systems, thus leading to a dramatic increase in dislocation density. These dislocations accumulate in dense cell walls and sub-grain boundaries within the elongating grains, hindering the movement of new dislocations and thus making further deformation under the same strain conditions (as in multi-pass wire drawing) increasingly difficult. That phenomenon is well known as strain hardening, e.g.

Fig. 10. Curled substructure of wire drawn BCC metals as modelled by J. Gil Sevillano, et al18. 64 | WIRE JOURNAL INTERNATIONAL

a substructure-induced increase of the critical shear stress τc, which will be discussed later. Contrary to the original grain sizes, the substructure in single-phase materials does not follow the geometrical dimensional changes of the wire. See Fig. 8. In the first drawing passes, up to strains of ε=1.5 for Cu and ε=3 for iron, their cross-sections are reduced much faster than the external dimensions and evolve slower at larger strains14-16. Strongly related to their respective orientations, inter-granular and

Fig. 11. Thermoelectric power (proportional to the electric conductivity) as a function of wire drawing strain of full-pearlitic steel19.

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intra-granular strain differences occur, thus violating the basic assumption of the full constrained Taylor model. That problem gave birth to the field of FEM numerical calculations on the micro-scale, coupled with crystallographic plasticity (the so-called “relaxed constraint” or RC Taylor models) in order to come to a more precise prediction of texture development17. So, differences in the intensity of the [001] fiber in drawn copper and aluminum wire, as mentioned before, are obviously due to differences in sub-grain morphology. A peculiar structural evolution is observed in drawn steel wire, as well in ferritic as in full pearlitic material18. Although during the first drawing passes, the cell sizes in low-carbon ferritic steel follow a similar trend as in wire-drawn copper, beyond a strain of ε = 1, an additional curling takes place. This leads to a cross-sectional picture which, in an artistic mood, makes one think of painter Vincent Van Gogh. See Fig. 9. An elegant model has recently been developed to describe the formation of a curled substructure19. It is based on the presence of a [110] fiber texture in the drawing direction. Under these conditions, on some of the slip systems which are geometrically needed to make a axisymmetric strain, the resolved shear stress is zero. Then, if only the stressed systems operate, a plane strain deformation would result. Such a deviating deformation, however, is not accepted by the die geometry and the concomitant material flow. Hence, a mutual accommodation of the shape change of neighboring grains is needed to realize the macroscopically required axisymmetric strain. The material solves that macro-micro incompatibility by curling the grains/sub-grains as shown in Fig. 9a. The model9 is a random-walk model applied on a multitude of grains in the transverse section of a wire, deforming by nearplane strain elongation and obliged to interfold for maintaining compatibility. An excellent similarity with the experimen-

Fig. 12. Wiredrawing and shear flow curves for a Ti-gettered iron23.

tal pictures was obtained, as seen in Fig. 10. The peculiar effect discussed, does not intervene in drawn face-centered cubic crystal (FCC) wires. The reason is that during development of the two components of the FCC wire textures, (111) and (001), the full constraint orientation factor MFC is never more than 20% higher than the relaxed constraint factor MRC, based on heterogeneities in sub-grain deformation. M factors, as mentioned earlier, are proportional to the work needed to deform, in this case, draw, the material. To the contrary, in a body-centered cubic crystal (BCC) wire material with a sharp [110] texture, drawing under full constrained conditions would create large additional micro-stresses to activate all geometrically needed slip systems, and this FC solution would need 50 % more work than the RC curling solution18.

Fig. 13. Strain hardening in drawing and in twisting respectively to a drawing strain of ε = 1.5 and torsional strain of γ = 3; a) for a pearlitic steel; and b) for a ferritic steel. DECEMBER 2009 | 65

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Substructure strengthening Taking both texture and substructure development into account, and knowing that σ = Mτc, we can write the following expression for the strain hardening of metals in deformation processes such as wiredrawing : dσ/dε = M2 dτc/dε + τc dM/dε

Fig. 14. In drawing pearlitic steel, the mean free path of dislocations decreases proportionately to the interlamellar distance; in torsion, and with a circumferential [11 ī] shear direction, the mean free slip distance remains practically unchanged.

In two-phase materials, and as long as the second phase does not go in solution again, inter-particle and interlamellar distances decrease in conformity with the outside dimensions, thus being proportional to the wire diameter. An industrially most interesting case is that of full-pearlitic steel wire. During wiredrawing, the randomly oriented lamellae turn with increasing wire drawing strain towards the wire axis and at a true strain of ε =2 , 60% of the colonies are oriented within 30° of that axis. The orienting effect is reflected in the thermo-electric power (TEP) values. Fig. 11 shows that TEP, being directly related to the electric conductivity, reaches a maximum when the reoriented ferrite phase has opened a nearly obstacle-free path for the electrons20. The new decrease of conductivity beyond ε=2 is due to the subsequent decrease of interlamellar spacing and the increasing dislocation density in the interlamellar zones.

Fig. 15. Bauschinger softening and cross effect when changing strain path of a pre-drawn wire. 66 | WIRE JOURNAL INTERNATIONAL

In single-phase metal wires of FCC structure, such as Cu, Al and Ag, continued drawing leads asymptotically to a limit sub-grain size at large wiredrawing strain and once the deformation texture is installed, the geometrical factor M remains constant. In that situation, dislocation annihilation and creation are in equilibrium, leading to a saturation flow stress Mτc, with M close to 3. In all other deformation processes, a similar evolution of substructure and flow stress prevails, and can be modeled21, taking into account the specific M factor evolution for each deformation mode. The situation is different however, in the case of wire drawn BCC metals. There, the flow stress increases up to a wiredrawing strain close to ε=1022. This sustained work hardening is caused by the contribution of additional dislocations, that are geometrically necessary to cope with the morphological changes of the substructure, i.e. to the previously discussed curling effect. That curling effect is at least as pronounced in drawn carbon steel wire with a fine pearlitic structure, as in ferritic iron wire, and without causing fractures of the cementite lamellae. At very large strains, cementite thickness becomes so small that the material can rather be considered a single-phase one with modulated composition, than a true two-phase one18. The

Fig. 16. Diameter reduction of steel wire as a function of true strain, indicating the drawing strain where strain path is being changed for making wire products. Initial diameter given value of 2x10 (dimensionless).

Directional strain softening An evolving substructure, being aligned by drawing deformation, offers an ever-increasing resistance to further drawing. As mentioned, this can be explained by hordes of disloca-

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much higher strengths that can be reached in drawn pearlitic steel wire, compared to those in a ferritic one, at comparable strain values, is linked of course to the decrease in interlamellar spacing 位, whose effect on flow stress obeys a 1/位 relationship. However, wiredrawing remains an exception, due to the particular micro-macro incompatibility described above. When we deform the same wires, ferritic as well as pearlitic, by torsion, their strengthening behavior compares very well with that of FCC material23, showing an asymptotic flow curve that leads to a saturation stress For a steel with 0.86 % carbon and 0.06 % C, respectively, the ratio of strain hardening at a drawing strain of e=1 was 31.7/14,85 = 2.13, whereas at a twisting strain of 纬 = 3 it was only 2.60/3.86 = 0.67. Such a different behavior is understandable. Then, when twisting iron or pearlitic steel, a shear texture develops at the surface with a [1 墨 1] direction as shear direction and (110) and (112) as shear planes (perpendicular to the former drawing direction). The latter planes are the favored slip planes because they feel the largest shear stress. In torsion, grains with these orientations hence do not create any compatibility problems, such as the case of drawn wire material. The freeslip distance between the lamellae does not change and the strain hardening is extremely small24.

Fig. 18. Compressing a small cube, machined out of a predrawn wire, gives a larger broadening in radial direction (RD) than in the former drawing direction (DD).

tions being piled-up against grain boundaries or cell walls. But if we now change the strain mode, e.g. twisting or compressing a pre-drawn wire, we change the stress state on some or all of the available slip systems and this forces the dislocations on these systems to move in an opposite direction, offering them a path with much less resistance, so the flow stress lowers. That is the so-called Bauschinger effect. If, however,

Fig. 17. Evolution of the dislocation cell (subgrain) structure of a drawn carbon steel wire: a) as drawn; b) after a moderate draw; and c) after a large compressive strain. DECEMBER 2009 | 67

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the strain path change is such that new systems have to be activated in a pre-deformed structure full of obstacles, the new flow stress may be higher, a condition known as the cross effect. Fig. 14 shows both effects. Both the Bauschinger and cross effects are of utmost importance when passing from drawn wire to wire products, such as bolts, nuts and springs, and in wire-flattening operations. See Fig. 16. One of the first consequences of the presence of a stretched dislocation substructure in the case of low-carbon steel and of an aligned pearlite structure in the case of medium- and highcarbon steel is a marked effect on the formability in subsequent compression, e.g. in bolt making25. Indeed, the compressive flow curves of pre-drawn wires of different carbon content all show a pronounced yield stress drop (Bauschinger effect) which increases with the amount of pre-strain. The reverse flow stress is then followed by a steep strain hardening over a strain range of only a few percent, after which the curve levels off to flow stress levels lower than those of the forward curves at the same equivalent strain. Reverse strains of between 20 and 50 percent are needed before a new strain hardening starts, but at large subsequent deformations the flow curve is still characterized by a permanent softening. The softening effect increases with drawing pre-strain and is larger when the pearlite content of the material is higher. TEM observations of the structural evolution in compressing pre-drawn low-carbon steel throw some light on the underlying mechanisms. By a pure geometrical reasoning, one expects the elongated sub-grains in the as-drawn material to gradually change their shape by compression, in conformity with the specimen dimensions, leading at high compressive strains to a pancake-like sub-structure. The observations show, however, that from the start of compression, the wire drawn substructure collapses into a completely new equiaxed subgrain structure, which at higher strains is being transformed into a pancake structure, perpendicular to the compression axis. The latter stage clearly corresponds to the new hardening stage as shown in Fig.15. It was also calculated that the effect

Fig. 19. Delamination fracture in drawn HC steel wire. Image courtesy of Bekaert NV. 68 | WIRE JOURNAL INTERNATIONAL

of texture (M-factor) change during compression was negligible; anisotropy of the aligned drawn substructure was the fundamental origin of the compressive softening26. When the change in strain mode is not so dramatic as to reverse all the components of the strain tensor, a strain softening effect still takes place. This is sometimes preceded by a cross effect (a transient yield stress increase) at small offset strains, but it is not relevant at larger subsequent strains. A practical example is encountered in roll flattening steel wire, where the strain tensor is changed from ε11 (+), e22(-), ε33(-) to ε11 (+), ε22(-), ε33(+), provided shear strains are neglected. Pre-drawn steel wire that is flat rolled shows a larger broadening effect than wire of the same dimension that was not predrawn27. Softening effects have also been reported when compressing tubes after moderate pre-strains in torsion, and when twisting pre-drawn steel wires. In all cases, because of that softening effect, material flow obviously is easier in directions in which the strain tensor changes sign. That can be seen in Fig. 18, which shows how the shape of an original cube specimen, machined out of a 75% (ε =1.2) pre-drawn wire, has changed during a subsequent transverse compression test. The elongation in circumferential direction is larger than the elongation in the longitudinal direction (the former wire axis)28. Reversal of the sign of the strain vector in circumferential direction lowers the flow stress and leads to preferred plastic flow in that direction.

Fatigue and delamination of steel wire A very common change of strain path is the twisting of predrawn steel wire: it occurs in the coiling of springs and in the making of cables from drawn wire. Delamination is a particularly unwelcome problem in production of high-strength steel wire, as seen in Fig. 19, which shows the longitudinal fracture or splitting of a wire under tensile, compressive and/or torsional stresses29. This can occur under static as well as under fatigue-loading conditions. The most appropriate way to assess the sensitivity to delamination is the torsion test. Whereas the number of torsions and the aspect (code) of the torsion fracture give valuable information about that sensitivity, they do not reveal the mechanism initiating delamination. It now has become clear that the formation of longitudinal “intense shear bands” is the key mechanism underlying the problem. Fig. 20 illustrates the geometry of the torsion test as well as the orientation of a shear band. Shear bands are micrometer narrow bands, enclosing a zone of very high shear, following the microstructure in longitudinal direction. The shear planes are normal to the wire surface as they contain the wire axis and a radial direction. The sign of the shear in the bands corresponds to the sign of the shear stress acting on those planes. On further twisting, the first shear bands rotate and a new family of bands can be formed, again in a longitudinal direction. Small voids can be found within the bands, and larger defects are sometimes encountered where successively formed families of shear band intersect30.

MORDICA LECTURE Fig. 21. a) A crack is formed at the intersection of two families of shear bands; b) reversing the sense of twisting creates tensile stresses perpendicular to the previously formed shear bands.

Fig. 21 a) shows such an intersection. Fig. 21 b) makes clear that voids in a shear band will be opened more easily when the sense of twisting is reversed, as reversing creates a tensile stress perpendicular to the band. Reverse twisting tests, therefore, are the most suitable test to study the delamination sensitivity. As to the origin of shear band formation, three phenomena are worth looking at: strain softening, texture and residual stresses. The first one has to do with the observation of Fig. 22 that the stress-strain curve in torsion is typical for a strain path change as discussed before: it goes through a maximum followed by a decrease. It is well known that softening effects in torsion are at the origin of localized deformation31. In several drawn copper and aluminium wires, as well as in moderately deformed carbon steel, the effect is a localized shear in a tangential direction, thus on the other plane of maximum shear stress. On that cross-sectional plane and in the circumferential direction it contains, we would indeed expect shear bands to occur, because they are the macroscopic shear plane, viz. shear direction in torsion. But in the case discussed here, severely drawn pearlitic steel wire, the shear bands are in a longitudinal direction, on the planes of maximum shear stress, perpendicular to the circumferential ones. One developed model32 shows that softening within the longitudinal shear bands is more pronounced than it would be in circumferential bands. That softening is caused by a combined ferrite texture effect and a reorientation of the cementite lamellae, but the texture effect seems to be predominant. Indeed, the second phenomenon to look at is the crystallographic texture. Several wiredrawing tests done on 0.15 mm steel wires, and combined with Taylor-model calculations, reveal that the intensity of the cylindrical texture is dependent

on the Δ-factor (Δ = [(d0 + d1) /(d0-d1)] . tg α with d0 and d1 die inlet and die outlet diameter, and α the half die angle). The stronger the cylindrical component of the texture, the higher the probability of causing longitudinal shear bands. See Table I. Although torsional delamination is an important industrial problem, the phenomenon not only occurs in torsion but also in tensile and other strain modes. This justifies a closer look not only at the texture, but also at the internal stresses, acting on longitudinally and axially oriented grain boundaries close to the wire surface, which are {001} boundaries in the case of a cylindrical (110)[1 ī 0] texture. It has been shown33 that the complex morphological changes in wire-drawn steel, results in residual stresses on these planes of the order of 20% to 30 % of the flow stress of the material. And as {100} planes are known to be cleavage planes in BCC metals, the contribution of circumferential internal micro-stresses to delamination should not be overlooked. Indeed, whereas longitudinal residual stresses are considered to be the crucial parameter determining fatigue, stress corrosion cracking, etc., the circumferential residual stresses that are superimposed on the tensile internal microstresses ould be at least as important.

Summary The rotational symmetry of material flow in drawing operations, together with the “redundant” shearing strains, create typical crystallographic preferred orientations which are of normal fiber character in the center and of cylindrical nature at the surface of the wire. The tooling geometry, the most important factors being the die angle and the strain per pass, and friction play a decisive role. Together with texture development, elongated dislocation substructures are formed within the grains. Both effects together induce anisotropy of mechanDECEMBER 2009 | 69

MORDICA LECTURE Fig. 22. Shear stress-shear strain curve of a drawn pearlitic steel wire.

ical properties, which can have important technological consequences. The relation between structural anisotropy and anisotropy of properties is now better understood and can be used to improve production parameters of both nonferrous and ferrous wires.

Conclusions The actual understanding of substructural and textural evolution in wiredrawing is the basis for modeling those evolutions in the drawing of shaped wires, characterized by a nonrotational material flow. As these wires have more complex cross sections, heterogeneities in structure and texture can be of importance for their application. Further, properties of drawn wire not only depend on their bulk characteristics, but equally well—and often even more— on their surface quality. The influence of friction and surface treatment on structure and texture in the surface regions of the wire are still an interesting field for further research Finally, one must remain aware that unintentionally introduced heterogeneities on the microscale can have a decisive influence on the behavior of the wire, and this makes quality control of utmost importance in the wire drawing industry.

Fig. 23. Pole figures of a simulated cylindrical texture of the ferrite phase of a drawn pearlitic wire (26 drawing passes with a true strain of ε = 0.15 and half-die angles of 8°).

References 1. Iron die plate found in Eide, Norway, Universiteters Oldsacksammling Oslo. 2. E. Siebel and H. Hühne, itt. Kaiser Wilhelm Institut für Eisenforschung, Düsseldorf, 13, 1931, p. 431. 3. P. Monmittonnet, Tréfilage et Etirage, aspects mécaniques, Cours Mastère, Ecole Nationale supérieure des Mines de Paris, 1993-1994. 4. J.W. Pilarczyk, WJI, Mordica Lecture, Jan 2005, p. 56. 5. J.W. Pilarczyk, P.V. Houtte and E. Aernoudt, “Effect of hydrodynamic and roller die drawing on the texture of high-carbon steel wires,” Mat. Science and Eng., 1995, p. 97. 6. E. Aernoudt, Die Endlagen der Verformungstextur, insbesondere bei Kubisch-Flächenzentrierten Metallen,” Z. für Metallkunde, 61-2, 1970, p. 128. 7. E. Aernoudt, I. Kokubo and H. Stüwe, “Zyklische Texturen gezogener Silberdrähte,” für Metallkunde, 1966, p. 216. 8. E. Aernoudt. Bekaert. internal report, 1967. 9. Heizmann, Proc., ICOTOM, 9, 1991. 10. Bunge, “Texture Analysis in Materials Science,” Butterworths, London, 1982. 11. E. Aernoudt, R. Garvin-Salazar, P.V. Houtte, M. Follon and P. Neutjens, “Mechanical Anisotropy in Extrudend and drawn Copper-Base Alloys,” Proc. Intern. Confer. on Powder

Table 2. calculated strain hardening/softening in longitudinal shear band that show the occurrence of these bands is enhanced by the presence of a (110)[1 ī 0] cylindrical texture. 70 | WIRE JOURNAL INTERNATIONAL

Conference at Bekaert, 1967. 32. P.V. Houtte, P. Watté, E. Aernoudt, J. Gil-Sevillano, A. Martin-Meizoso, W.V. Raemdonck and I. Lefever, “Model of longitudinal shear band formation during torsion tests on cold drawn steel wires,” Proc., 13th Risø Inter; Symp. On Materials Science, ed. S.I. Anderson, et al, 1992. 33. J. Gil-Sevillano, D. Gonzalez and J.M. Martinez-Esnaola, “Heterogeneous Deformation and Internal Stresses Developed in BCC Wires by Axisymmetric Elongation.” ■

Etienne Aernoudt, a metallurgical engineering professional and prolific technical author, is the winner of the 2009 Mordica Memorial Award. A full professor at Catholic University, Leuven, Belgium, where he was chairman of the Dept. of Metallurgy and Materials Engineering, he has published more than 200 papers on subAernoudt jects related to the mechanical behavior of materials. A co-author of nine books with more than a half century of metallurgical engineering experience, his R&D has focused on issues of theory and technology of wiredrawing. He is a recognized pioneer for his work in metal forming process, which included establishing a link between mechanics of process and structural phenomena. In the 1960s, while working for Bekaert Steel Wire Corporation, he produced the first 10-mm stainless steel fibers, a technique that has been further improved by his successors in the Bekaert Corporation, and for which new applications are being invented. He has been the recipient of numerous industry awards, and has been a prominent and active member of organizations that include the Metallurgical Society of the Royal Institution of Flemish Engineers, the International Committee of the Conference of Textures of Materials (ICOTOM) and the Flemish Council for Industrial Scientific Research at the General Assembly of the Interuniversity Microelectronics Centre. He is co-founder of the Conference of European Schools for Advanced Engineering and Research (CESAER). This Mordica Lecture was presented at WAI’s 79th Annual Convention, Cleveland, Ohio, USA, April 2009.

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Metallurgy and Related High Temperature Materials,” Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, 1987, p. 230. 12. P.V. Houtte and E. Aernoudt, “Considerations on the crystal and strain symmetry in the calculation of deformation textures with the Taylor theory,” Mat. Sci. Eng., 1976, pp. 11-22. 13. E. Aernoudt, “Calculation of deformation textures according to the Taylor model,” Proc., 5th Int. Conf. on Textures of Materials, Springer Verlag, Berlin, 1978, Gottstein and Lücke, Eds., pp. 45-65. 14. N. Haasen, Microstructure and flow stress of aluminium and dispersion-strengthened Al-Al2O3 drawn at room temperature, Trans., AIME, 245, 1969, p. 2061. 15. G. Langford and M. Cohen, “Strain hardening of iron by severe plastic deformation,” Trans., ASME, 62, 1969, p. 623. 16. J.D. Embury, A.S. Keh and R.M. Fisher, “Substructural strengthening in materials subject to large plastic strains,” Trans., AIME, 236, 1966, p. 1252. 17. N. Wang, F.R. Hall, I. Pillinger, P. Hartley, C.E.N. Sturgess, A.V. Bael, J. Winters, P.V. Houtte and E. Aernoudt, “Finite-element prediction of texture evolution in material forming,” Proc., 4th Int’l Conf. on Numerical Methods in Industrial Forming Processes, Valbonne, France, Sept. 1992, pp. 193-198. 18. E. Aernoudt, “Residual ductility of heavily deformed metals,” internal paper, MTM KUleuven. 19. J. Gil-Sevillano, C. Garcia-Rosales and J. Flaquer-Fuster, “Texture and large strain deformation microstructure,” The Royal Society, Discussion meeting, Deformation Processing of Metals, London, Oct. 1998. 20. H. Delrue, J.V. Humbeeck, E. Aernoudt, I. Lefever and W.V. Raemdonck, “A study of the aging of hard-drawn pearlitic steel wire by Differential Scanning Calorimetry and Therrmoelectric power,” WJI, April 1997, p. 54. 21. J. Gil-Sevillano, P.V. Houtte and E. Aernoudt, “Large strain work hardening and textures,” Progress in Materials Science, 25, No. 2-4, 1980, pp. 69-412. 22. G. Langford and M. Cohen, Trans., ASM, 1969, p. 623. 23. J. Gil-Sevillano, “Courbes d’écrouissage de la perlite lamellaire,” Mémoires Scientif. Rev. De Métallurgie IXX, 1973, p. 875. 24. J. Gil-Sevillano and E. Aernoudt, “Material fluss und Verfestigung im lamellaren Perlit,” Mechanische Anisotropie, Springer Verlag, 1974, p. 249. 25. Y. Strauven, J. Bouwman and E. Aernoudt, “Uber das Stauchen vorgezogener Drähte,” Draht-Welt, 1981, pp. 224-295. 26. E. Aernoudt and Y. Strauven, “Directional strain softening in ferritic steel,” Acta Metallurgica, 35-5, 1987, p. 1029. 27. E. Aernoudt, “Compressive behaviour of severely prestrained steel wire,” Proc., NATO advanced research workshop on Investigations and Application of Severe Plastic Deformation, Golitsino, 1999, Kluwer Academic Publishers 2000, pp 373. 28. E. Aernoudt and Y. Yurchenko, unpublished results. 29. Courtesy of Bekaert N.V. 30. I. Lefever, U.D. Haene, W.V. Raemdonck, P.V. Houtte, E. Aernoudt, and J. Gil-Sevillano, “Modeling of the delamination of high-strength steel wire,” WJI, Nov. 1998, p. 90. 31. H.P. Stüwe, “Instabilitäten im Zug-und Torsion-sversuch,”

TECHNICAL PAPERS

TECHNICAL PAPER New developments in rod surface measurement and analysis This article provides a deeper understanding of the surface oxide test and introduces methods for increasing accuracy and repeatability. An automated instrument has been developed to incorporate these improvements and a method of comparing instruments is described. By Gil Baker and Horace Pops

The surface oxide thickness on copper rod is often times just a few hundred Angstroms (Å). For reference, 200 Å is one thousand times thinner than the diameter of the finest human hair1. Thus it is impossible to measure such a small oxide thickness with an optical microscope, even on metallographically-sectioned samples. An ellipsometer is a laser-based instrument that routinely measures oxide thicknesses in semiconductor labs, but it can only make proper measurements on smooth surfaces with well defined surface curvature (i.e. high flatness or roundness). There are instruments that can be employed to measure oxide thickness on rod, but they are very expensive and only small areas are typically analyzed. Some of these analyses are Auger, x-ray, and electron diffraction. Decades ago it was well-known in the wire industry that surface oxides on rod had a significant impact on product quality, but the only tests available to monitor this parameter were expensive and time-consuming. In 1977, Pops and Hennessy introduced an electrochemical test that very elegantly solved this problem for copper2. This test has come to be known as the surface oxide test, which affects a controlled reduction of oxides and other surface films using an affordable instrument. This electrochemical test is also referred to as “coulometric reduction” (CR), especially by corrosion laboratories where it is practiced with extreme accuracy and repeatability3. However, those same levels of accuracy and repeatability have not been experienced in copper rod analysis due to discrepancies falling into two categories. The first category was created when this test was tailored to be an effective tool in Quality Control (QC) labs. While a traditionally run coulometric reduction test will usually take over an hour with the combined prep and test time3, a QC lab needs to receive results much faster, because tests have to keep up with coil production rates, which, in turn, vary widely and can be as fast as four minutes per coil. The second category has to do with the fact that the surface of hot rolled rod is not as smooth and uniform as corrosion coupons. 72 | WIRE JOURNAL INTERNATIONAL

Table 1 lists the differences defined in these two categories. Improvements can be made to test conditions (Cat. #1), but they require increased attention and many of the issues cannot be eliminated completely. A better method to deal with the issues in Cat. #1 and #2 is to combine the coulometric reduction (CR) test with a complementary electrochemical test, namely, “Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy” (EIS). Combining EIS results with coulometric reduction more thoroughly, accurately and repeatably solves most problems, even without improvements to the CR test methods. Due to article length restrictions, this combined test is not discussed here, but additional information can be obtained from Ref. 8. Even though accuracy and repeatability of the surface oxide test as practiced in QC Labs are not optimum, the test is capable of rapidly revealing serious rod quality problems. In spite of this benefit, there are numerous reasons for improving confidence in the measurements. For example, the number of marginal or good coils that are erroneously downgraded can be reduced, and many poor quality rod coils that have improperly passed surface oxide specifications can be eliminated. Both internal rod plant personnel and rod plant customers need to have a good understanding and confidence in this test.

Surface oxide test: basic understanding This section reviews basic concepts of the surface oxide test as it is commonly configured in the wire and cable industry. What are surface oxides? Whenever bare metal is exposed to oxygen in either a gas or liquid phase, the oxygen reacts with the metal surface, quickly forming an oxide layer, sometimes called a patina. As this layer becomes thicker, its growth slows because it becomes harder for oxygen or others ions to diffuse through the patina layers to bond with the metal. Thickness of the layers at which the growth slows appreciably is related to temperature and time. Even if the metal remains at room temperature, its oxide will grow slowly and will be accelerated by water or high humidity. Some metals such as copper and plain carbon steels form relatively thick oxide lay-

TECHNICAL PAPERS Table I. Comparison of surface oxide test practices in corrosion laboratories versus rodplant QC laboratories.

ers, while other metals, such as aluminum and stainless steels, form much thinner protective oxide layers. In copper, cuprous oxide (Cu2O) is formed initially and cupric oxide (CuO) starts forming afterward. These constituents can exist in separate layers but, more likely for rod and wire, they are present in a mixed layer. There are other constituents that may be present on the copper surface, such as copper sulfides, sulfates or chlorides. Although the CR test can measure the thickness of these constituents, for the sake of simplicity, this paper will only focus on cuprous and cupric oxides. Why is surface oxide measurement important? High surface oxide values are mostly detrimental for various reasons, primarily because they reduce drawability, degrade lubricity, increase formation of soaps, accelerate die wear, increase fines generation4-5, inhibit solderability and plating, and adversely affect magnet wire quality during aging. Two benefits of a surface oxide film include prevention of sticky wire during batch annealing, and creation of a stronger bond between some polymers, such as polyethylene6, to copper oxide than to bare copper. How does the surface oxide test work? The current surface oxide test is a constant current electrolyte reduction (â&#x20AC;&#x153;coulometric reductionâ&#x20AC;? (CR)) test, which dates back to the 1930s. It was used initially in corrosion and oxidation studies for cop-

per and other metals, like silver, nickel and iron. The exact CR test, as presented by Campbell and Thomas7, Pops and Hennessy2, Krumbein et. al.3 and others, can be quite laborious. Currently, surface oxide thickness is measured worldwide in the wire industry albeit many shortcuts and simplifications have been adopted due to financial and time restraints. Fig. 1 shows the simplest test configuration, in which an electrolysis cell is formed. When a constant current is run between the anode and the cathode, the anode creates oxygen and the cathode creates hydrogen. The cathode is the sample to be tested and while oxides remain on the cathode (sample) surface, some of the hydrogen will reduce the oxide. Cuprous oxide (Cu2O) will be reduced first and then the cupric (CuO) due to an order determined by reduction potentials. In a highly accurate test, the vast majority of hydrogen produced will go towards this reduction process. However, in much less accurate and less repeatable systems, as are currently used in many QC labs, only a moderate percentage of the hydrogen created goes towards reducing the oxide. Thus, reduction efficiency is low. Fig. 1 also shows a voltage meter in parallel with the constant current source. Readings from this voltage meter are recorded versus time and a graph is created. Fig. 2 shows a typical graph from the system, which measures voltage via a reference electrode that is not shown in Fig. 1. Plateaus in this DECEMBER 2009 | 73

TECHNICAL PAPERS Fig. 1. This is the simplest coulometric reduction cell where a constant current loop is created through the electrolyte. The cathode is the sample to be tested and a percentage of the hydrogen generated at the cathode goes towards reducing any oxides present.

Fig. 2. Screen shot of advanced software showing a typical voltage versus time curve from a surface oxide test, that is analyzed by using the first and second derivatives and voltage information to choose inflection points separating Cu2O and CuO reduction periods.

curve correlate to the reduction of the two layers of copper oxide. If more constituents were present, more plateaus might be distinguishable. The test works because the various oxides or other constituents reduce only at specific ranges of reduction potentials (voltages). This test measures the time required to reduce every compound. Each film thickness can be determined from Faraday’s law, which in its most convenient form is

analogy for the chemical functions of the surface oxide test was prepared and an illustrated slide show is available8. Reduction efficiency. When dissolved oxygen is present in the electrolyte, hydrogen preferentially bonds with that oxygen near the copper surface. Consequently, even though the quantity of hydrogen produced by the electrochemical reaction is exactly related to known electrical current, all the hydrogen does not completely go towards reducing the surface oxides. In addition to dissolved oxygen, high current density, electrolyte contamination and electrolyte weakness will also reduce the reduction efficiency. Thus, to properly solve for oxide thickness, it is possible to develop fairly accurate measures of efficiency versus only one parameter. For example, the efficiency versus current density can be determined, but only if all other influential parameters are well maintained.

Thickness = current * time * Kc / surface area

Eq. (1)

where Kc is the electrochemical equivalent constant that is unique for each constituent. Thus, for every test the constant current applied is known as well as the total surface area of the test sample that is wetted by the electrolyte. Therefore, to determine the thickness of each constituent isolated by voltage, only the time to reduce each constituent must be measured. The constant for each constituent, Kc, is determined as follows: Kc = (105 Mc) / (Nc F dc)

Eq. (2)

where: Mc is the gram-molecular weight of the substance being reduced; Nc is the number of Faradays required to reduce a gram-molecular weight of the substance being reduced (it is also the hydrogen equivalent and equal to 2 for copper oxides); F is Faraday’s constant (9.65 x 104 C/gequiv.); and dc is the density of the substance being reduced (g/cm3). Eqs. 1 and 2 result in thickness measurements reported in Angstroms (one equals 0.1 nanometers). Traditionally the final number reported by the surface oxide test has been the sum of all the constituent thickness’ measured. A mechanical

74 | WIRE JOURNAL INTERNATIONAL

Test Conditions: Prep/Test Time (Cat. #1) This section discusses reasons why accuracy and repeatability of the coulometric reduction test are below achievable levels. It starts with a discussion of current density, which is typically the most influential issue. Also, introducing the concept of current density facilitates the introduction of physical calibration, a key concept related to accuracy and repeatability prior to moving on to discuss the other issues. Current density. Current density is determined by taking the constant test current and dividing it by the surface area of the sample exposed to the electrolyte. Thus, for the same current, a smaller sample would be exposed to a higher current density than a larger sample. As the current density is decreased, the test takes longer to complete. At highly accurate current density values it would take perhaps an hour to complete a test on a typical rod sample and multiple hours to complete tests having high oxide

lowing techniques can be employed: 1. Set a Time Limit. Instead of setting the highest permissible oxide measurement to complete in five minutes, set the highest oxide measurement that is not downgraded to complete in five minutes. With this method, any test that is not complete within the maximum time will be automatically downgraded. A minor disadvantage is that complete knowledge of some long-running test results will be lost. 2. Use a dual cell. The use of more than one surface oxide tester per production line would allow for current density reduction. In such a configuration the maximum time is not limited by the time between coils produced. For example, with a dual system the maximum test time can be set to 10 minutes rather than five minutes. Note that doubling the maximum available test time reduces the current density by more than half due to efficiency gains. Testers with Ethernet communications capability can provide a convenient method to coordinating multiple testers. The only disadvantage with using a dual cell is that as the test time increases, this increases the lag in results obtained, which may be crucial in providing feedback to the production line. However, the availability of a second cell can provide other conveniences and versatility to the test. 3. Reduce the test sample surface area. A very simple method of reducing the time required per test is to reduce the test sample surface area. For rod and wire this simply means reducing the length of the sample under the electrolyte. Once the surface area is reduced, the current is reduced by the appropriate amount to reduce the current density. The major problem with this method is that it reduces the sampling rate of the product evaluated. Instead, it makes more sense to increase the sample lengths for better historical data. It is also important to avoid making the length so short that the cut face surface becomes a significant percentage of the total surface area, which would result in skewed data. Physical calibration with copper foil. Currently there are no established physical standards for the surface oxide test and such an undertaking would require considerable time and money to properly develop. Until such time that quality standards may be developed, copper foil is an inexpensive accessory that can be used with good results to compare test systems and test methods or for gage R&R determinations of confidence intervals. A small roll of copper foil can be purchased inexpensively. One source is McMaster Carr, where the least expensive roll is 2-mil thick by 2-in. wide by 50 ft. Rolled foil such as this has a relatively smooth surface with consistent oxide film thickness. The outer wraps of the foil roll will probably oxidize more over time, but if the coil is kept tightly wrapped most of the inner wraps will remain consistent in oxidation. Therefore, prior to any testing about three complete wraps of foil should be removed and scrapped. The length of coil to be submerged under the electrolyte is then scribed on each foil sample. That length times the foil width times two is the geometric surface area under test. This surface area can be made larger than typical rod samples to match the typical test time periods of more heavily oxidized rod. However, it is important to match the

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values. These test times are not acceptable for QC lab work. Thus, much higher current density values are used with the attendant reduction in repeatability and accuracy. For any given test system, there will be a relationship between current density and the deviation from the actual film thickness. For certain current density settings, the results calculated by the test can be multiple times the actual film thickness. This is not necessarily inaccurate, because if the results are consistently higher than actual by some factor, that factor can be used to calculate the actual thickness. Further, rod producers are typically unconcerned with actual film thicknesses as they are more concerned that the results can accurately predict when problems will occur in up-stream processes or when there are problems in rod production. At this time, there are no standard guidelines provided to the wire industry for current density. ASTM B 49 requires surface oxide testing for copper rod but does not recommend current density9. Consequently, each plant probably uses different current densities. A commonly used current density for copper rod is 0.4 milliamperes per square centimeter, which usually requires less than three minutes for an average test completion where electrolyte quality is well maintained. In contrast, Krumbein3 recommends a current density of 0.05 mAmp/cm2 for laboratory corrosion studies. The authors’ company ships systems in which current density is easily adjusted, with a default current density of 0.15 mAmp/cm2, and found that level to provide decent repeatability for this particular system (this may be different for another system). The system described in this article provides many automated features that free up the lab inspector’s time to a degree that this lowerthan-typical current density can be tolerated. The cell design affects how the current density influences the test results. The authors have studied this issue to provide the optimum, but still low-maintenance, cell design. It is a good idea to understand how current density influences the results in any test system. ASTM B-49-089 recommends solvent cleaning of all tested samples, and without such practice it is impractical to attempt to predict the inefficiency due to current density. Generally, decreasing current density improves the repeatability of the test. This concept will be discussed further with foil calibration after providing practical strategies for reducing current density. Practical strategies for reducing current density. Generally, the test repeatability can be improved by reducing the current density in rod producing QC Labs, but the current density is set high to ensure that the tests are completed fast enough. For example, let’s assume a plant produces a rod coil every 6 minutes when running consistently. Furthermore, let’s say it is desired that each surface oxide test should complete within 5 minutes. The simplest step is to set the current density such that a sample with the highest permissible oxide measurement would be completed at exactly five minutes. Rather than digress to develop these complex calculations here, a further discussion and a useful Excel spreadsheet to quickly calculate the lowest possible current density is provided at www.confident-instruments.com/surface-oxides.htm8. To reduce the current density further one or more of the fol-

TECHNICAL PAPERS Fig. 3. In the illustration above, even though there is the equivalent oxide thickness’ on all three samples, the surface oxide test will evaluate the Sample B significantly higher than Sample A because it has more real surface area. The charged electrolyte will also reduce the rolled-in scale, with exposure to the surface, on Sample C yielding even higher values. current density between rod, wire and foil tests. It has already been mentioned that there is a relationship between test results variation and current density and that reducing current density improves test repeatability. Thus, decreasing current density is often a worthy goal, but in doing so another problem must be solved. With such an improvement, the ranges defining what is considered “good,” “bad,” etc., may also change. This paradox does not just apply to current density. Any other improvements made in this coulometric test may change the range of readings. Thus, use of the foil can quantify the degree to which any change in the test alters the measurements and the grading limits can be altered accordingly. Electrolyte quality. Electrolyte quality has a substantial impact on the test results. As the electrolyte is used, its pH typically lowers due to creation of ions, which inhibit current flow through the solution. Also increased contamination of the electrolyte tends to reduce the reduction efficiency. To maintain a quality electrolyte that will provide the best repeatability, two approaches are recommended. First the electrolyte should be changed frequently and secondly, there should be vigilance toward electrolyte cleanliness. If the electrolyte is kept clean it will be able to handle many more tests. The amount of tests that can be made in one batch of electrolyte before repeatability begins to suffer depends upon the cell volume, the cleaning practice for the test samples, the constituents in the surface films (non-oxides tax the electrolyte more) and the surface area under test. Studies using the copper foil can be performed to determine the number of tests when readings and repeatability changes. In these studies, if the practice at a lab is to test uncleaned rod or wire samples, 76 | WIRE JOURNAL INTERNATIONAL

the copper foil should be coated with the same processing residues that the samples carry. A faster but less accurate method is to monitor the electrolyte with an inexpensive pH meter to develop a replenishing practice. The electrolyte will generally decrease significantly in pH when there are problems. The pH of the processing residue on the samples should also be measured to ensure that the rod residue does not serve to increase pH. If it does, the pH method may not be of value. Since this test generates hydrogen at the surface to reduce the surface films, any lubricant or other film on the sample will end up in the electrolyte if the sample is not cleaned first. Since most technicians in the rod plants typically do not wear protective gloves the use of solvents should be rejected, even though it is recommended by ASTM B-499. The next best answer might be a brief dip in an ultrasonic cleaner with a mild soap solution. However, if wet samples must sit more than a few minutes before testing, they should be carefully dried. Purposefully adding a substantial quantity of the soap solution to the electrolyte and comparing a copper foil test with that in the fresh electrolyte can quickly check the influence of the soap solution on the electrolyte. Care must also be observed in the initial water quality used for the electrolyte and in ensuring that the proper electrolyte concentration is mixed. Dissolved oxygen. Bubbling low-pressure nitrogen (or argon) gas through a frit is the most common method of deaerating (or de-oxygenating) the electrolyte. The time required is dependent upon the cell design, but 20 seconds should be enough. For the best repeatability of results it is recommended that the cell be deaerated after every electrolyte change and after every test. Of course, deaerating prior to a test would be preferred, but it is more practical to automatically deaerate after each test. If a lab chooses not to deaerate after every test, it is better to eliminate deaeration all together. Without deaeration, the electrolyte increases in oxygen concentration until a fairly constant oxygen saturation level is reached. Another big influence on test variation is the method by which the voltage-time curve is analyzed. Curve analysis methods vary from tester to tester. It is important that these methods are consistent for proper comparison. The most accurate method for analyzing the curves is another complex subject4. However, the user should be provided with the ability to view the voltage curves and its first derivative (at least) so that they can visually confirm that the tests are being solved reasonably.

Sample surface issues (Category #2) The surface issues with copper rod samples, as listed under Category #2 in Table I, will be discussed in this section. Surface Roughness: Fig. 3 (A & B) illustrates why the surface oxide test actually also measures the surface roughness of the rod at each test. It depicts two copper samples with exactly equal surface oxide thickness. However, the sample 3B will yield a higher reading in the surface oxide tester because there is more oxide on the surface of the rougher sample. It is generally beneficial that surface oxide values are higher when rod

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is rougher, but it would be best to isolate the two measurements. Much thicker than average oxide patches: Unlike wire, the oxide films are not always uniform in thickness on rod. Continuously cast rod can have patches of thicker oxides, which are remnants of scale from the casting operation. This is especially the case where a high-pressure mechanical descaler is used. Patches of thick oxides can remain because of an imperfect descaling operation, hot cracks forming in the as-cast bar, or scale getting rolled back into the rod surface Fig. 4. A metallographic section showing a copper rod within the rolling mill. All three are also referred to as subsurwith a subsurface oxide patch that is exposed to the face oxides. If part of subsurface oxides are exposed to the surface and thus would be reduced by the charged surface, they will be reduced in the surface oxide test along electrolyte. with the more uniform residual oxide layer. Fig. 3C shows an example of a subsurface oxide underneath a uniform oxide measurements are needed for the rod or wire: film thickness that, otherwise, would be exactly equal to that Cross-section. The cross-sectional information can be of Fig. 3B. However, with the subsurface oxide present and entered or communicated through a database. For round wire exposed, the resulting value generated by the surface oxide only one diameter measurement can be provided. However, tester is much higher for two reasons: for rolled rod or shaped wires, multiple dimensions are The patches of scale are much thicker than oxide film. For desired that specify the shape of the cross-section. For rod this example, Fig. 4 shows a cross-section of a copper rod with may just be minimum and maximum diameters. rolled in oxides. The large gray piece of scale to the left measThe length of the sample beneath the electrolyte. ures about 200 by 50 microns. If just this piece of oxide ran Determining the length of the sample underneath the eleccontinuously through the ~5â&#x20AC;? of rod, it would account for trolyte for wire can be tricky. The wire (or a single strand of 4,000 Angstroms of the test value by itself (About an order of stranded wire) is positioned straight against a ruler and a mark magnitude above acceptable test values). is made at the desired length. Then that mark is placed at the After all the uniform surface oxide is reduced, the reduction surface of the electrolyte. A wire holder that is designed to of subsurface oxide patches proceeds much slower than surwork with the cell is the best option to rapidly position the face films causing the test value to be artificially inflated still mark at the electrolyte surface. Also important, a wire holder further. will maintain the coiling of the wire such that wire surfaces One way to assess the influence of subsurface oxides is to are not too close together. If the wire had been stranded and compare the test results of an as-received rod with the test cannot easily be straightened, the exact length can be deterresults from a rod sample after the standard forward and mined by use of a milligram reading analytical balance and reverse twist test has been performed. The twist test produces knowledge of its density along with its exact diameter. surface cracks and therefore exposes more subsurface oxides In comparison to wire, determining the length of rod under to the electrolyte when they are present. This should be a very the electrolyte seems simple, but not as commonly practiced. convenient test since most rod producing plants already perCoiling of the rod sets a rod curvature and typically prior to form the twist test and it can be combined with the surface the insertion in the surface oxide test, one of various methods oxide testing in this manner4-5. is used to straighten the rod. The problem is first that these Due to the often-spotty nature of subsurface oxides their methods do not accurately straighten the rod. Secondly, the presence will show jumpy results from coil to coil. The use of straightening process might introduce artifacts into the rod SPC processing with the surface oxide test results is important and would provide a quick visualization of a jumpy trend line. The importance of isolating multiple properties measurements. The detrimental and beneficial effects, in addition to process indications related to rod with subsurface oxides or high surface roughness are listed in Table II. Accurate surface area measurement. Accuracy and repeatability can be increased by giving attention to the surface area measurement used in Eq. #1. To completely define the total Table II. Significance of subsurface oxides and surface roughness on surface area under test, the following continuously cast rod.

TECHNICAL PAPERS

sample, such as scale from previous rods. A better suggestion is not to straighten rod at all, just account for the known curvature (introduced by the coiler) by use of geometric calculations. This solves the two problems mentioned above and also saves technician time. Accurate measurement of electrolyte level. In the Confident Instruments Surface Oxide Tester a sensor measures the electrolyte level accurately. This sensor is used in the automatic refilling process, but it also adjusts for electrolyte evaporation and transference with tested samples. The surface at the cut end. The surface area at the cut end in the electrolyte is usually neglected in the calculations particularly for wire tests. For rod it is still a small percentage of the total area. For example, it is about 2% of the total surface area for a 5/16 in. rod tested over a 5 in. length. Due to the exposure of nascent copper in the cut area the surface oxides would be much lower than the sample at this end. Thus, it is recommended to neglect this surface in the calculation. However, there should be some precaution to prevent scale from previous samples being transferred by the cutters.

Conclusions Coulometric reduction (CR) has been performed with high accuracy and repeatability in corrosion labs since the 1930s. The CR test that is known as the “surface oxide test” is indispensable to the wire industry but would benefit significantly with improvements that are discussed in this paper. The reasons for inaccuracies fall primarily into two categories, namely: Test preparation and test times must be fast and convenient for QC Labs. Rod sample surface roughness as well as the possible presence of embedded scale and subsurface oxides must be considered.

The issues in these two categories have been carefully described and examined. Methods of providing tighter control of current density and electrolyte quality have been discussed. Finally, benefits from physical calibration with copper foil have been enumerated, because it can be used to compare all varieties of test methods and devices.

References 1. http://hypertextbook.com/facts/1999/BrianLey.shtml 2. H. Pops and D. R. Hennessy, “The Role of Surface Oxide and its Measurements in the Copper Wire Industry,” The Wire Journal, March 1977, pp. 50-57. 3. S. J. Krumbein, B. Newell, and V. Pascucci, “Monitoring Environmental Tests by Coulometric Reduction of Metallic Control Samples,” Journal of Testing and Evaluation, November 1989, pp. 357-367. 4. G. Baker and H. Pops, “Analysis and Automation of Copper Surface Oxide Measurement,” Wire Journal Intl., Vol. 32, No. 2, Feb. 1999, pp. 90-97. 5. H. Pops and G. Baker, “Formulation, Analysis, and Measurement of Fines,” Wire Journal Intl., Vol. 42, No. 10, Oct. 2009, pp. 68-79. 6. J.RG. Evans and D.E. Packham, “Adhesion of Polyethylene to Copper: Changes in Oxide Films on Copper.” Journal of Adhesion, Vol. 9, 1978, pp. 267-277. 7. W. E. Campbell and U. B. Thomas, “Tarnish Studies: Electrolytic Reduction Method for the Accurate Analysis of Thin Films on Metal Surfaces,” Transactions of the Electrochemical Society, Vol. 76, 1939, pp 303- 328. 8. www.confident-instruments.com/surface-oxides.htm. 9. ASTM B49-08 “Standard Specification for Copper Rod Drawing Stock for Electrical Purposes.” ■

Gil Baker formed an instrument development firm, Confident Instruments, that combines mechanical design, electronics and software skills. He was previously senior metallurgical engineer at Superior Essex. He holds Ph.D. and M.S. degrees in mechanical engineering from Rensselaer and a B.S. degree in mechanical engineering from Cornell University. He won the WAI’s 1999 award for best general paper and the 1993 award for best nonferrous paper, as well as a 1998 Essex Technology Award. Horace Pops is president of Horace Pops Consulting, Inc., Ft. Wayne, Indiana, USA. He previously was director, metals laboratory at Superior Essex in Ft. Wayne. He joined Superior Essex in 1972. He founded the company’s corporate metals laboratory. He holds an Sc.D. degree from the University of Pittsburgh and M.Met.E. degree from Lehigh University, and a B.Met.E. degree from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. He is the sole or co-holder of 10 patents. Many of his papers have been published in leading technical journals, and he has received 16 paper awards. The two men co-authored the 2008 winning paper in the nonferrous category. This paper was presented at WAI’s 78th Annual Convention, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA, June 2008.

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Pops and Baker

PRODUCTS & MEDIA

PRODUCTS & MEDIA PROD DUCTS Rod breakdown system offers ‘zero slip’ FRIGECO, a division of Italy’s Mario Frigerio SpA, has introduced its TA model, which it described as a unique rod breakdown machine with absolute zero slip for the production of superior high quality copper or aluminum wires. The system, a press release said, avoids the disadvantage that conventional slip breakdown machines have with longitudinal friction caused by the wire sliding on the capstan, and with axial friction as the wire moves from wrap to wrap on the capstan itself. To avoid friction problems between each wire wrap and between wire/capstan, each TA drawing block is driven by an independent AC motor and the synchronization wire-capstan speed is performed by a dedicate dancer. This, it said, eliminates longitudinal slipping problems that cause longitudinal wire scratches while axial wire scratches are avoided by winding the wire to a double capstan, with the first pulling capstan motor driven and the second non-motorized capstan is slightly out of center with respect to the first, which results in spacing the wraps and prevents side sliding. That also results in dissipation of thermal and electric energy, it added. The TA system has large diameter pulling and idle capstans to prevent dangerous wire yielding, and a high lubricant-pressure die holder helps provide efficient wire cooling, the release said. The system also offers the following advantages: drastically reduced wire breaks for extra-fine wire diameters during re-draws; reduced energy consumption (up to 22%); adaptability to most drawing ranges/wire elongations; very low maintenance and downtime costs as well as noise level lower than 80 dBA; potential increase of total mechanical efficiency up to 10%; depending on the total number of direct axis capstans). More details can be found at the company’s website. 80 | WIRE JOURNAL INTERNATIONAL

Contact: Massimo Dell’Erba, sales manager, FRIGECO, tel. 39-03413581, info@frigeco.com, www.frigeco.com.

System measures tight buffer lines slip Germany’s Sikora, represented in the U.S, by Sikora International Corp., has launched the X-RAY 6020, a newly developed wall thickness, diameter and concentricity measurement system for online non-contact measurements of tight-buffered fiber. Based on the X-RAY 2000 series that provides measurements of diameter, ovality, concentricity, eccentricity and wall thickness, the new model is ideal for measuring polymer extrusions over the 250 micron optical fiber, a press release said. The customer-driven development gives fiber manufacturers a first look at these measurements in this application, it said. The unit is illuminated by two x-ray tubes opposed at 90 degrees to create a dual-axis product measurement, while new proprietary tubes permits the orientation of the X-RAY beam for analysis of small diameters and wall thicknesses, “enabling Sikora to break the barriers that previously limited these ultra small measurements.” The X-RAY 6020 has a measurement duration of 3 milliseconds, which ensures that product movement or vibration has no effect on the measurement accuracy, the release said, adding that the most significant feature is the unique measurement approach, which eliminates the requirement for calibration. This approach, it said, has resulted in successful, reliable measurements in a variety of wall thickness applications in the fiber, wire, cable, hose and tube industries. Contact: Sikora International Corp., tel. 770-486-1233, sales@sikora-usa.com, www.sikora-usa.com.

Synchronized coiler can optimize high speeds for higher production rates U.S.-based Schleuniger Inc., part of Swiss-based Schleuniger, reports that the company’s new CableCoiler 1300 is a fully synchronized, high-speed coiler that can provide higher production rates and is virtually maintenancefree. The CableCoiler 1300, which has two high-speed coiling pans, can interface with Schleuniger’s cut or cut & strip machines, a press release said. The unit, which has a userfriendly color touchscreen, is a fast and efficient machine for coiling wire, cable and other round materials, it said. One

Elastomeric insulation coating can be used to replace traditional dry powders U.S.-based S.T.A.R. Corp. announced that a new product, Mica Substitute, a liquid elastomeric water coating that forms a non-blocking film over the insulation, can replace dry powders such as mica and talc that are dusted on surfaces to prevent blocking. A press release noted that dry powders can cause dust nuisances as well as accidents when spilled on the floor, and some other solutions, such as an anti-blocking soap solution, can cause blistering. “Mica Substitute will not behave in the same manner,” it said. “It is a true film former that encapsulates the insulation and will prevent sticking inside the jacket, the CV line or other areas of blocking concern.” Mica Substitute has been used on insulations such as PVC to PVC, Hypalon, Crosslink, TPR and CPE, and has also been used as a bond separator between Hypalon and XLPE in the mold during the baking cycle, the release said. For Mica Substitute to work properly, it must form a film before reaching the take-up reel. Contact: Carmine Spatola, S.T.A.R. Corp., tel. 732-9686776, statspatola@aol.com.

Flexible robot cable is cost-effective Japan’s OKI Electric Cable is offering a robot cable with a bending cycle of 100 million times that it said is small in diameter and highly flexible yet surprisingly low-priced. The company said in a press release that it has commercialized the ORP Cable, which sells for a 30% lower price than those now on the market while offering a 50% higher bending performance compared to the fluorocarbon insulated cables that have a strong track record in the market. The company was able to achieve that by applying a flame-resistant special elastomer that the company developed, it said.

“In particular, flexing durability for sliding and twisting is more than 50% higher than conventional general fluorocarbon insulated robot cables. It has been designed to endure over 100 million times sliding and bending and 20 million times twisting.” The company’s technology also prevents the cable body from meandering, a common problem with conventional cables that can lead to breaking and damaging the wire from moving usage, the release said. In contrast, the delicate twisting technology used by OKI enables the cable to be 5% thinner, it said. While conventional robot cables have been sold in 100 m rolls, the ORP Cable can be sold in pieces or in 10 m units, which is the unit requested for machine tools, the release said. Contact: OKI Electric Cable, www.okidensen.co.jp/english/index.html.

AC motor drive cable line expanded U.S.-based Belden announced that it has added new 2000 Volt VFD cable designs to its existing line of Variable Frequency AC motor drive cables, which are used to regulate the speed of 3-phase AC electric motors. The Classic Design VFD Cables, 14 to 2 awg, with Beldfoil® plus TC Braid Shield, are similar to Belden’s other classic VFD cables, as this series of seven cables features oversized XLPE insulation to provide the lowest capacitance available in a VFD cable, a press release said. The cable has highly effective dual shielding that provides the lowest resistance to ground path, which improves common mode current containment, it said. The 85 percent braid coverage offers optimum EMI low frequency noise protection, while the 100 percent aluminum/Mylar tape shield offers RFI high frequency noise protection, it noted. Also included in the smooth, round cables are full-size, insulated green ground wires with a yellow stripe and drain wires for ease of installation and termination, it said. The Symmetrical Design, large awg (1 to 4/0), with spiral copper tape shield, is similar to Belden’s other Symmetrical cables, as this series of five cables combines the benefits of Belden’s classic VFD cables with additional features for use on larger, more powerful AC motor drives, the release said. It also has highly effective shielding for a low resistance ground path that improves common mode current containment, it said, adding that the spirally applied dual copper tape shields provide 100 percent coverage, coupled with improved flexibility and EMI/RFI noise protection. Three symmetrical bare ground wires, it said, provide a balanced ground system to reduce the likelihood of premature motor bearing or motor insulation failure. Contact: Belden, tel. 800.BELDEN1, www.belden.com/industrial.

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key to the model’s high-speed capability stems from its fast switching between the coiling pans and movements that are perfectly synchronized with the upstream processing machine, it said. The dual-pan coiling system’s alternating process allows an operator to unload a completed coil from the first coiling pan as the next coil is being produced in the second coiling pan, while an anti-slip surface and coiling pins inside of the coiling pans, assure a controlled coiling process, it said. The all-electric model, the release said, can processes cable diameters up to 12.7 mm, with coiling diameters from 110230 mm and coil weights up to 10 kg. Contact: Schleuniger Inc., tel. 603- 668-8117, www.schleuniger-na.com.

PRODUCTS & MEDIA

MEDIA Service provides ongoing forecasts for key telecom markets and more The CRU Wire & Cable Division of U.K.-based CRU Group is offering a service that will be of value to companies that have questions as to how the recovery will take shape and where new capacity may be required. A subscription “Telecom Cables Plus Service” will provide customers with two reports per year (now and in March 2010), access to CRU analysts for further discussion and four quarterly online updates from the company’s exclusive “FiberGlobe” database, a press release said. The offering includes: Telecom Demand Drivers, with a look at mobile and broadband markets, advanced and developing telecom markets, and five-year forecasts for economic indicators, and for FTTx and Broadband Network Forecasts; Optical Cable Demand & Supply, including trend-analysis for telecom developments broken down for all regions and major countries, and analysis of industry production trends and profitability for major producers, such as Corning, Prysmian,

WHEN IT COMES TO TROUBLE-FREE

MULTI-WIRE STARTUPS,

WOODBURN IS THE PERFECT MATCH!

82 | WIRE JOURNAL INTERNATIONAL

Sterlite, United Fibre Optic, Opcom, Condumex and CommScope; andSingle-Mode Fibre, covering the latest announcements concerning preform and fibre production capacity, price scenarios based on a comparison of capacity and demand trends, and a breakdown of fibre production by region, type, manufacturer and group. New research includes demand for G.657A/B (Bend-insensitive fibre); External Copper Telecom Cable, a global overview for the market, with regional breakdowns, that covers forecast demand as well as production and demand by country; and

On-line library offers details on improved monomer technology U.S.-based Sartomer Company, part of Total’s Chemicals branch, has enhanced its monomer technology with new products that can be seen at its online technical library at www.sartomer.com. The specialty chemicals manufacturer reports that two new products, Saret® SR517R trimethacrylate and SR519R triacrylate coagent monomers, incorporate a new proprietary retarder technology for improved scorch safety in high temperature mixing and curing processes. Ideal for rubber applications, these coagents demonstrate outstanding performance in wire and cable as well as automotive belts, hoses, seals and gaskets, a press release said. It noted that the two products are designed for use with elastomers that require higher processing temperatures or extended mix cycles. The new chemistry improves temperature stability, allowing the

monomers to be used in higher temperature processes yet maintain ultimate scorch safety as the scorch retarder is less volatile, and thus remains in the rubber compound through mixing and forming so they are available when required during curing, it said. Used in conjunction with peroxides, these coagent products can enhance crosslink density, improving tensile strength, modulus, hardness and compression set, the release said. It added that multifunctional Saret SR517R and trifunctional SR519R, which have no color and low odor, are also available as dispersions (amorphous silica), Saret SR517RD and SR519RD, respectively. Contact: Sartomer Company, tel. 800-SARTOMERT, www.sartomer.com. ■

Four reasons why Sjogren’s Tensioning Brakes with Feedback Control are the best 1. During payoff operation feedback arm follows the spool as it spins from full to empty providing constant line tension 2. Self-adjusting torque utilizing permanent magnet design 3. Permanent magnet technology means no power and no wear parts

Feedback Arm

4. Graduated adjustments for repeatable and recordable settings For more information visit www.sjogren.com

Tensioning Brake Spool

Belt Drive

Sjogren Industries, Inc. Tel: 1-508-987-3206 Fax: 1-508-987-1965 Email: sales@sjogren.com

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four quarterly editions of CRU’s FibreGlobe demand forecasts for more than 40 countries broken down by singlemode and multi-mode applications. Contact: CRU Wire & Cable, wireandcable@crugroup.com, www.cruonline.crugroup.com.

CLASSIFIEDS

CLASSIFIEDS WIRE ASSOCIATION INTERNATIONAL MEMBERS seeking positions are entitled to free “Position Wanted” classified ads. Limit: one ad per issue, three ads per year. This benefit is not transferable to nonmembers or to companies.

days after receipt. Responses to Blind Box ads should be addressed to: Wire Journal International, Box number (as it appears in print or on-line), P.O. Box 578, Guilford, CT 06437-0578 USA.

CLASSIFIED AD RATES: • $1.30 per word for WJI and on-line classifieds at wirenet.org (20 word minimum). • Blind box numbers, add $25. • Boldface headlines, add $6 per line (up to 18 characters per line). Specify category.

PAYMENT POLICY: All ads must be pre-paid.

BLIND BOX INFO: Blind box numbers assure the confidentiality of the advertiser in both the WJI and the on-line publication. Responses are mailed out within two business

POSITION WANTED An engineer with over 28 years experience in design and development of flux cored wire manufacturing equipment and processes, desires full time position with company in the USA. For additional information including complete resume package with references phone 717-792-3964, lesbetzel@comcast.net. CAREER OPPORTUNITIES ENGINEERS. Champlain Cable Corporation is actively seeking an Electrical Engineer and a Materials Development Engineer. The successful candidates will be responsible for the development of wire & cable products and/or polymer compounds, cable extrusion processes, product analysis, writing technical reports, customer support, product specification review and

DEADLINES: Copy is due a full month in advance, i.e., it must be received by March 1 for publication in the April issue. Classifieds booked on-line, run for at least one-month on-line, from the date of booking. Wire Journal International “Print classifieds” booked on-line as an “add-on” to an “online classified” booking will run in the next available issue.

writing, and project management for the R&D Department. He/she will interact with manufacturing to transfer new technologies from laboratory scale to production; support marketing and sales with product knowledge, samples, technical data, written reports, and presentations; participate in industrial committees such as SAE and ISO. • Minimum of a BS degree in an appropriate field, Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Polymers or Materials Science. • Three plus years of industrial experience, with preference to the wire and cable industry. • Ability to perform hands on laboratory work. • Knowledge and/or experience with polymeric materials. • Excellent analytical abilities, and written and oral communication.

• Knowledge of QA/ISO processes. Apply online by emailing resume, cover letter, and salary requirements to hr@champcable.com.

PERSONNEL SERVICES “LET OUR SUCCESS BE YOUR SUCCESS” Wire Resources is the foremost recruiting firm in the Wire & Cable Industry. Since 1967 we have partnered with industry manufacturers to secure the services of thousands of key individual contributors, managers and executives. For corporations we provide recruitment, outplacement, and salary assessment functions. For the professional exploring a new opportunity, we provide career evaluation and guidance. Our services are performed in absolute confidence. Contact: E-mail Peter Carino at pcarino@wireresources.com or Jack Cutler at jcutler@wireresources.com, or visit the Wire Resources website at w w w. w i r e r e s o u r c e s . c o m . Wi re Resources, Inc., 522 E. Putnam Ave, Greenwich, CT 06830, 203-622-3000 or 800-394-WIRE.

DIES SANCLIFF SHAPED WIRE DIES. All sizes and shapes R2 to R12. Highest Quality, Shortest Lead Times, Lowest Cost and Superior Customer Service. 60+ years of quality products and service to the wire industry. Contact Bill Drumm at 1-800-332-0747, or E-Mail at sales@sancliff.com. Serving the non-ferrous and ferrous industries since 1983

84 | WIRE JOURNAL INTERNATIONAL

NAME _________________________________________________________________________TITLE _________________________________________________ COMPANY ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ADDRESS ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ CITY ________________________________________STATE _______________POSTAL CODE _____________________COUNTRY _______________________ PHONE ______________________________FAX________________________________EMAIL _______________________________________________________ AD CATEGORY____________ ISSUE YOUR AD BEGINS___________E-mail NUMBER OF ISSUES RUN _______LAST ISSUE ________________RUN TILL FURTHER NOTICE? YES____ NO ____ FULL RUN (WJI & ON-LINE) YES____ NO ____

BLIND BOX? YES____ NO ____

WAI MEMBER? YES____ NO ____ WAI MEMBERSHIP # ______________________ (Applies only to “Position Wanted”)

DIAMOND DIES. Vijay Precision Dies (P) Ltd, a leading manufacturer of Natural Diamond Dies and Polycrystalline Dies with an established brand image. Manufacturing range includes

APOLLO DIA-CARB COMPANY. Buy & sell new/used Natural and PCD DIAMOND DIES. Fair prices and excellent lead times. Contact Paulette, Owner-Sales, by telephone at 1-508226-1508 or by e-mail at apollodie@ wmconnect.com.

ß Natural Diamond 0.010 mm–2.0 mm ß Monocrystalline - 0.010 mm–0.60 mm ß Polycrystalline - 0.100 mm–2.5 mm ß Matched Elongation Die Sets in Natural Diamond.

Authorized Representative in Germany: Mr. Werner Stroemann, M/s. HWS Consulting, Habichtweg 9, D-35614 Asslar, Germany, Ph: +49 (0) 6443 3600 Fax: +49 (0) 64432277. Send e-mails to: hws-stroemann@t-online.de. Send enquiries to: Mr. G. Radhakrishnan, email: vp@vwfindustries.com. No.79A, Mysore-Belagola Road, Metagalli, Mysore – 570 016, India. Ph: +91 821 2582459, Cell: +91 994 5275094.

AJEX & TURNER WIRE DIES CO. offers a wide range of PCD/nd/carbide dies, extrusion tools, die polishing machine, ceramic and diamond tools. Please visit our company web site: www.ajexturner.com. Send inquiry to ajexturner@gmail.com. A-53, G.T. Karnal Road, Delhi-33 India. Ph: 00919811078882 (Ravi Bansal). MOLONEY DIE COMPANY. Low prices on all sizes of new, used and recut carbide dies. We also recut tapered nibs. Fast turn-around. Quality service since 1985. Tel. 904-388-3654.

Please e-mail the requested information to: WAI’s Cindy Kirmss at ckirmss@wirenet.org. For more details, you can call her at 203-453-2777, ext. 116.

REELS REELS: NEW HIGH QUALITY ABS COPPER WIRE PROCESSING REELS FOR IMMEDIATE SALE. DONNELLY REELS has a surplus of high quality ABS plastic copper wire processing reels, available immediately, at discounted prices. These “Super Tough” reels have proven

COMMISSION BROKERS, INC. EQUIPMENT SPECIALISTS TO THE ELECTRICAL WIRE & CABLE INDUSTRY APPRAISERS • COMMISSION BROKERS • INDIVIDUAL PIECES OR ENTIRE PLANTS

FOR SALE 1 - HALL Vertical Accumulator, 15” O.D. Sheaves, 500’ accum., ‘97 1 - NEB 64-Carrier CB-1 Cabler Braider 2 - WARDWELL 24-C Speedmaster Braiders 3 - NEB 24-C, 44-C, 96-C #2 Braiders 3 - DeANGELI 760mm Bunchers 1 - WATSON 36” Rotating Cabler Line 1 - GODDERIDGE 800mm Cabler 3 - NORTHAMPTON 630mm D.T. Cablers 2 - NEW ENGLAND BUTT 12-Wire 8” Vertical Planetary Cablers 1 - CEECO 6-Bobbin 60” Closer w/Caterpuller, Take-up 2 - MGS Model LC50.4 Caterpuller Capstans 1 - DAVIS ELECTRIC Model CAT-TRAK 22 Caterpuller Capstan 1 - VITECK 24” Horizontal Belt Wrap Capstan 1 - NIEHOFF M15 Wire Drawer, Annealer, SG45 Spooler 4 - D/S 3.5” 24:1 L/D Extruders 1 - D/S 3” 24:1 L/D Mark V Extruder 1 - D/S 2.5” 24:1 L/D Hi-Temp Extrusion Line 1 - D/S 2.5” 24:1 L/D Nylon Extruder 1 - D/S 2” 30:1 L/D Hi-Temp Extrusion Line

1 - HALL 36” Motorized Payoff 2 - TULSA 24” Motorized Shaftless Payoffs, Model HSPO-1, 12/02 3 - MGS 18-Bay 10” Tubular Stranders 1 - DAVIS STANDARD 36” Dual Reel Takeup, Model PS36 1 - ENTWISTLE 36” Dual Reel Take-up, Model THE 24/36 4 - D/S 30” Dual Reel Take-ups 1 - DAVIS ELECTRIC Model TAP30 Parallel Axis Dual Take-up 4 - NOKIA Model EKP50 Parallel Axis Dual Reel Take-ups 1 - CLIPPER Model SP16 Dual Spooler 1 - DAVIS ELECTRIC Model CRS30 Respooler 1 - WATSON/AFA 96” Rewind Line, 10,000lb reel weight max 2 - TEC Model 24STC Hi-Speed Twisters, rated 1300rpm w/2-Wire Payoffs 1 - TEC 600mm Backtwister D.T. Twister 1 - TEC 600mm D.T. Twinner 41 - 48” x 32-1/4” ID x 25” Barrel x 3” Arbor Toroidal Reels

Contact: Martin Kenner

COMMISSION BROKERS, INC. P.O. Box 8456 • Cranston, RI 02920-0456 • Tel. (401) 943-3777 • Fax: (401) 943-3670 WEB: www.commissionbrokers.com • E-MAIL: marty137@aol.com

DECEMBER 2009 | 85

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CLASSIFIEDS

themselves in wire drawing, bunching, stranding and general shop use. The sizes that are currently available for immediate sale are: 22”x15”x5”, 24.8” (630mm) x15”x5”, 24.8” (630mm) x 11”x5”. Samples can be provided. Requests for additional sizes and constructions are also available. Please contact Mitch Jacobsen by e-mail at mjacobsen@kinreiusa.com or by telephone at 973-494-6143 for additional information. WIRE FOR SALE FOR SALE. Titanium wire for sale. .125,” .144,” .160,” .187.” Grade 2, 4, 5. In coil and 12” length. Contact info@filochrome.com.

MACHINERY FOR SALE (1) Ice Fluide Bed Furnace - $200,000.00: (5) Nail machine Wafios (Headers) - $75,000.00: (1) Collated Coil nail machine Zeus (high frequency) - $95,000.00: (3) Plastic machine – Willy Heiff 2/3(Germany) - $45,000.00: (4) Drawing machines – Vaugtn 4/5 5/6 - $100,000.00: (4) Nail Ring Threaders - $55,000.00: Nako 15 heads, Vertical Take-ups with V Groove 15 x 15 000.00 – $225,000.00: (1) Ice acid Wave Pickle Fumeless - $120,000.00. Contact J-M Perron 450-447-5000 ext. 24. WWW.URBANOASSOCIATES. COM. For New (Hakusan Heat Pressure Welders, Ferrous and NonFerrous; Marldon Rolling Ring Traverses) and Used Wire and Cable Equipment. Please contact by tel. at tel. 727-863-4700 or by e-mail at urbassoc@verizon.net.

MEDIA FERROUS WIRE HANDBOOK. The most recent in a series of handbooks published by WAI, this comprehensive hard-cover book is a new, definitive industry resource for ferrous wire written by members of the Association and edited by former WAI President Robert M. Shemenski. It is a modern-day reference tool for those

86 | WIRE JOURNAL INTERNATIONAL

working directly in the steel wire or manufacturing, engineering, or operations sectors of the industry. At 1,168 pages, the publication’s comprehensive 36 chapters cover a broad range of topics including many of the equipment types, processes, and specialty applications of steel wire manufacturing. The book begins with a history of the steel industry and includes the evolution of ferrous steel manufacture, appendices and a complete index. List Price is $235, $195 for WAI members. To purchase, go to wirenet.org and click on The WAI Bookstore. ELECTRICAL WIRE HANDBOOK. This three soft-cover book set examines materials, equipment and products. Part 1 is Wire and Cable Production Materials, Part 2 is Wire and Cable Production Processes and Part 3 is Types of Cables. Parts 1 and 2 are now available, but the original handbook will still be available until Part 3 is published separately. List Price: $99, WAI Member Price: $59. To purchase, go to wirenet.org and click on The WAI Bookstore. FERROUS WIRE HANDBOOK. The most recent in a series of handbooks published by WAI, this comprehensive hard-cover book is a new, definitive industry resource for ferrous wire written by members of the Association and edited by former WAI President Robert M. Shemenski. It is a modern-day reference tool for those working directly in the steel wire or manufacturing, engineering, or operations sectors of the industry. At 1,168 pages, the publication’s comprehensive 36 chapters cover a broad range of topics. List Price is $235, $195 for WAI members. To purchase, go to wirenet.org and click on The WAI Bookstore. ANNEALING: PARTS 1-3. This three-part video set presents information from industry expert Dr. Horace Pops. The set, which has a total running time of 1 hr., 36 min., includes: Annealing Part 1: Principles of Annealing (28 min.); Annealing, Part 2:

Annealing of Copper and Aluminum Wire (31 min.); and Annealing, Part 3: Annealing Problems (37 min.). The set can be ordered for $285, $225 for WAI members, plus shipping, or by individual parts for $95, $75 for WAI members, plus shipping. To order, go to wirenet.org and click on the icon at the lower right side for the WAI Store. WIRE BREAKS, by Horace Pops and Julie Steininger. 2003, 49 pages. Breakage of copper, steel, or aluminum wire is one of the most common and costly problems facing the wire industry today. To help minimize the number of breaks, drawing personnel must first be able to recognize and identify the type and cause of material failure. With this need in mind, the following reference manual was prepared. It contains pictures of the most frequent examples of broken wires found in the wire mill and at the customer’s facility. Although some of these photographs were taken at high magnification with a scanning electron microscope, adequate visual examination of the broken ends can be made in the plant using either a magnifying glass or a low power stereomicroscope. In addition, many pictures of cross-sections are included that were obtained in the laboratory using metallographic techniques The photomicrographs do provide useful supplemental information that helps to confirm and explain the nature of the wire breaks. List price: $15, WAI member price: $10. To purchase, go to wirenet.org and click on The WAI Bookstore. INTRODUCTION TO EXTRUSION SET (DVD). This video series (total running time of 1 hr., 45 min.) by extrusion expert Tom Black includes Part 1, Materials & Equipment (50 min.), and Part 2, Extrusion Processing (55 min). List Price: $425, WAI Member Price: $325. To purchase, go to wirenet.org and click on The WAI Bookstore. ■

ADVERTISER . . . . . . . . . . . . . .PAGE

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Gem Gravure Co Inc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9

Arkema . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5

Huestis Industrial . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .43

Beta LaserMike . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1

Kamatics Corp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .83

Bomco Inc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15

Lamnea Bruk USA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .40

Bongard Trading GmbH & Co KG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .39

Lesmo Machinery America Inc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .41

Cable Consultants Corp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .44

Mathiasen Machinery Inc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .84

Carris Reels Inc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .37

Messe Düsseldorf North America . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27

Commission Brokers Inc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .85

Micro Products Co . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13

Conneaut Industries Inc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .45

NIMSCO LLC/SB2C . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24

Eurolls Group/Sictra . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2

Paramount Die Co . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4

George Evans Corp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .39

Pittsfield Plastics Eng Inc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17

WAREHOUSE SPACE AVAILABLE: PAWTUCKET, RI - ATTLEBORO, MA - MORVEN, NC - BONHAM TX

RECENT PURCHASES — INVENTORY HIGHLIGHTS CBR1043 NEXTROM/CEECO 4 pair 500mm Group Twiner w/backtwist, 1000 mm rotating cradle take up, Yr. 2000. TKU1149 NEXTROM Take ups EKP-63 Yr. 2000 Never used/(4) EKP 50, Yr. 1998, TKU1118-1121/EKP-5, Yr. 2001 (2) WRD890 (4) SAMP TR2TP Wire Drawing/Annealing / Preheating Yr. 2000 Never Used. WRD887 820 mm SAMP Drop Coiler, Model AS/3-820, Yr. 1999 CBR1040 Entwistle 30” Payoff Neutralizer, 6 pos, (flyer arm style) CBR998 (8) SETIC 630mm PA630i D.T. Twinners, 1998. CBR1000 84” CABALLE/KALMAR/POURTIER Drum Twisting Line, 1990’s. CBR995/CBR989 630mm MGS & TEC, 800mm NMC D.T. Twinners. MGS/BARTELL Payoffs 60”, 72”, 84”, 96” Take ups 60”, 84” 96” (some rebuilt) EXPL347 2 1/2” D.STD./SAMP Tandem Wire Dwg Insul Line w/2 1/2” & 1 1/4” extruders, 630mm Samp dual T/U, Yr. 2005.

EXPL325 4 1/2“ Jacketing Line w/2) 60” Belt Caterpullers, 96” Portal P/O, T/U, 30” multipass capstan. EXPL304 ROSENDAHL Skin-Foam-Skin Ins Line, 2000, Henrich annealer, preheater, 60/45/30mm extruders w/gas inj., multi cap, Rosendahl DIN500 dual T/U. HI TEMP EXTRUDERS: (YR 1998): EXP770 1 1/2” D.STD.24:1, EXP666 2” D.STD. 30:1. EXRL38 3 1/2”/ 1 1/4” AMERICAN KUHNE XLPE, CV Line, 2001, Endex CC18 18” Drop Coiler, multipass capstan. EXR172/171/168 4 1/2”, 3 1/2”, 6“ D.STD. 20:1 Rubber Extruders, roller feed water cooled. CLR214 SKALTEK MPS-260 Automatic Coiling Line for 250mm coils, CS260 pallet stacker. RWD359 2.6m SKALTEK Rewind Line. A264K P/O, S60/L100 line controls., meas. mach. Guide roller assy. U26T T/U. RWD445 (7) CLIPPER Dual S/T Rewinders, SP16, SP18, SP24, SP6.5

ALWAYS LOOKING TO BUY/TRADE GOOD SURPLUS MACHINERY PREOWNED HIGH QUALITY WIRE, CABLE & OPTICAL CABLE MANUFACTURING MACHINERY AVAILABLE EX-STOCK FROM SIX US WAREHOUSE LOCATIONS.

DECEMBER 2009 | 87

ADVERTISERS’ INDEX

February 2010 WJI ADVERTISER . . . . . . . . . . . . . .PAGE Power Sonics LLC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .50

Preview of wire Düsseldorf

Properzi International Inc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .51 Queins & Co GmbH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21

• SEND YOUR BOOTH LISTINGS!

Rosendahl Maschinen GmbH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .49

• DON’T FORGET TO ADVERTISE!

Sanxin Wire Die, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33

DEADLINE: JANUARY 1, 2010

Sikora International Corp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7 Sjogren Industries Inc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .83 Talladega Machinery & Supply . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23 Teknor Apex . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Cover 1 Wire & Plastic Machinery Corp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .85 Woodburn Diamond Die Inc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .82 Zapp Precision Wire Inc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35 Zumbach Electronics Corp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Cover 4

WIRE ASSOCIATION INTERNATIONAL ADS Wire Expo 2010 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18-19 Membership . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31-32 Wire Foundation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .59

WIRE JOURNAL I N T E R N A T I O N A L

NORTH AMERICA

EUROPE

Robert J. Xeller Anna Bzowski Wire Journal International 1570 Boston Post Road P.O. Box 578 Guilford, CT 06437-0578 USA Tel: 203-453-2777 Fax: 203-453-8384 sales@wirenet.org

U.K., France, Spain, Holland, Belgium, Denmark & Scandinavia Jennie Franks David Franks & Co. 63 St. Andrew’s Road Cambridge CB4 1DH, England Tel/fax: 44-1223-360472 franksco@btopenworld.com

88 | WIRE JOURNAL INTERNATIONAL

SALES OFFICES ASIA/WAI INDIA OFFICE Germany, Austria, & Switzerland Dagmar Melcher Media Service International P.O. Box 103 D-82402 Seeshaupt Germany Tel: 49-8801-914682 Fax: 49-8801-914683 dmelcher@t-online.de

Wire & Cable Services Pvt. Ltd. (WCS) sales@wirenet.org

Wind up with an Amacoil/Uhing assembly for perfect pitch every time Pitch is adjustable (10:1) without requiring gear changes or adjusting motor speed. A single Amacoil/Uhing assembly may be used for winding many different diameter materials. Automatic reversal of the traverse is mechanically controlled – without clutches, cams or gears. No electronics or programming needed. FEATURES • Zero backlash. • Automatically synchronizes pitch with take-up reel rotational speed. • Traverse drives with up to 800 lbs. axial thrust. • Smooth, unthreaded shaft won't clog or jam – no bellows assembly needed. • One inexpensive, unidirectional motor drives both the traverse and take-up reel. • Free movement lever – no need to "jog" system on and off to position linear drive. • Options and accessories for every winding situation. • Light, medium and heavy-duty systems.

For Brochure or CD-ROM Call toll free 800-252-2645

email: amacoil@amacoil.com

www.amacoil.com AMACOIL, INC. PO Box 2228 • Aston, PA 19014 • Phone: 610-485-8300 • Fax: 610-485-2357

Innovation & Latest Technology For In-line Proﬁle Measurement

Diameter / Ovality

X-Ray (3 layer)

Eccentricity

Capacitance

Wall Thickness

Spark Test

Faults

Temperature

In-line Full Cross Section Measurement s Maximize profits resulting from reduced production costs s Latest light-cut system s Measurement field .08 – 3.15 in. (2 – 80 mm) s Accuracy typically +/- .00008 in. (0.002 mm) s Rapid payback from optimizing process, quality control and material cost s Compact design adds greater flexibility into your systems

Worldwide Zumbach Customer Service and Sales Ofﬁces in

ZUMB.707.0099.U-WJ ZUMB.707.0088.U_WJ

Preheating

Zumbach Electronic AG – SWITZERLAND (H.Q.) Zumbach Electrónica Argentina S.R.L. – ARGENTINA Zumbach Electronic S.A. – BELGIUM Zumbach do Brasil Ltda – BRAZIL Zumbach Electronic Co., Ltd. – CHINA P.R. Zumbach Bureau France – FRANCE Zumbach Electronic GmbH – GERMANY

Zumbach Electronic India Pvt. Ltd. – INDIA Zumbach Electronic Srl – ITALY Zumbach Electrónica S.L. – SPAIN Zumbach Electronics Far East – TAIWAN Zumbach Electronics Ltd. – UK Zumbach Electronics Corp. – USA

www.zumbach.com

We Measure Quality

The Full Range of Measuring & Control Systems for the Wire & Cable Industry